2.J- 


MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 


MORE   ABOUT 
KING    EDWARD 


BY 


EDWARD    LEGGE 

X   OF   "KING  EDWARD  IN  HIS  TRUE  COLOURS' 
"THE  EMPRESS  EUGENIE"  ETC. 


"THE  Universe  was  his  school;  the  Sovereigns 
and  Statesmen  of  all  Eurora  were  his  professors.  " 


BOSTON 
SMALL,  MAYNARD  AND  COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS 


• 

. 


MORE  ABOUT 
KING    EDWARD 


BY 


EDWARD    LEGGE 

AUTHOR  OF    "KING  EDWARD  IN   HIS  TRUE  COLOURS" 
"THE  EMPRESS  EUGENIE"  ETC. 


"THE  Universe  was  his  school;  the  Sovereigns 
and  Statesmen  of  all  Eurooe  were  his  professors."/ 


BOSTON 
SMALL,   MAYNARD   AND   COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS 


PREFACE 

"Whatever  record  leaps  to  light,  he  never  will  be  shamed." 

AFTER  the  first  shock  I  ceased  to  grieve.  I  could 
not  repress  a  feeling  of  exultation  that  the  King 
had  died  quickly,  gloriously,  painlessly,  in  a 
beautiful  calm,  and  had  been  spared  that  long 
lingering  on  the  brink  of  the  river  which  is  the 
only  sting  of  death.  His  "  agony "  was  of  the 
briefest,  if,  indeed,  there  was  one.  He  fell  asleep. 

I  was  glad,  too,  because  he  died  at  the  right 
moment,  when  his  fame  was  greatest,  and  his  name 
most  refulgent,  when  he  had  no  peer  ;  and  because 
he  died  rejoicing  in  the  knowledge  that  he  had  left 
a  dear  and  loving  son,  who  could  have  said  with 
Perkin  :  "  We  will  in  all  points  give  our  subjects 
cause  to  think  that  the  blessed  and  debonair 
government  of  our  noble  father,  King  Edward, 
in  his  last  times  is  in  us  revived."  * 

Edward  the  Seventh's  life  had  been  a  very 
happy  one,  although  at  times  darkened  by  those 
clouds  which  ofttimes  overshadow  the  careers  alike 
of  Monarchs  and  of  men.  "  Post  nubila  Phoebus." 
As  a  Sovereign,  he  had  accomplished  all  that  is 

1  In  his  proclamation  as  "  the  very  Richard,  Duke  of  York, 
younger  son  and  now  surviving  heir  male  of  the  noble  and  victorious 
Edward  the  Fourth,  late  King  of  England." 


vi  PREFACE 

possible  to  one  man.  He  had  achieved  his  purpose. 
In  his  death  there  was,  as  Milton  says  :  "  Nothing 
for  tears  ;  nothing  to  wail  or  knock  the  breast." 

Like  Augustus  Csesar,  Edward  vu.,  "  sober 
and  mindful  of  his  mortality,  seemed  to  have 
thoroughly  weighed  his  ends,  and  laid  them  down 
in  admirable  order.  For  first  he  desired  to  have 
the  sovereign  rule,  next  he  endeavoured  to  appear 
worthy  of  it,  then  thought  it  but  reasonable,  as  a 
man,  to  enjoy  his  exalted  fortune,  and,  lastly, 
he  turned  his  thoughts  to  such  actions  as  might 
perpetuate  his  name  and  transmit  some  image 
and  effect  of  his  government  to  futurity."  l 

His  name  "  spelt  success."  He  could  not  have 
become  greater,  or  more  esteemed,  or  more  respected, 
or  more  loved  by  the  people.  As  he  lay  dying 
peacefully,  and  with  a  good  countenance,  he  was 
entitled  to  say  :  "  I  have  done  my  duty."  Had 
he  lived  a  few  more  years,  such  is  the  instability  of 
all  things  temporal,  his  glory  might  have  dimmed, 
his  influence  diminished.  Already  coming  events 
had  cast  their  shadows  before  :  "  Those  around 
him  knew  how  earnestly  he  was  concerned  at  the 
present  strained  position  of  political  affairs,  and 
this  fact  should  not  be  lost  sight  of  in  an  all-round 
consideration  of  the  King's  health."  2 

The  full  meaning  of  Goethe's  saying,  "  Mighty 
is  the  Goddess  of  propinquity,"  was  grasped  by 
Edward  vn.,  because,  while  he  was  English  to  the 
marrow,  he  had  a  Teutonic  environment  from  his 

1  Lord  Bacon. 

a  Vide  Chap.  XII.,  History  of  the  King's  Illness. 


PREFACE  vii 

cradle.  He  was,  in  fact,  Germanised  by  his 
parents.  I  do  not  say  this  to  their  detriment. 
The  foundations  of  Albert  Edward's  education 
were  solid,  and  he  greatly  benefited  by  them.  Had 
his  mother  and  father  been  wholly  English,  he 
would  have  been  less  of  a  great  man  than  all,  with 
one  trivial  exception,  admit  him  to  have  been. 
Knowledge  of  all  kinds  was  Nasmyth-hammered 
into  him,  doubtless  much  against  the  grain,  for, 
like  most  boys  and  youths,  he  was  a  firm  believer 
in  the  axiom  :  "  All  work  and  no  play  makes  Jack  a 
dull  boy." 

At  Cambridge,  Charles  Kingsley,  Professor  of 
Modern  History,  taught  the  future  King  history.  Sir 
Sidney  Lee's  comment  on  this  part  of  the  Prince's 
instruction  is  this:  "History,  the  chief  subject  of 
study,  was  carefully  confined  to  bare  facts  and 
dates." 

This  is  untrue,  and  is  proved  by  a  living  witness 
to  be  untrue  ;  the  witness  is  Mr.  H.  Lee- Warner, 
of  The  Paddocks,  Swaffham,  who  writes  : 

I  am  one  of  the  few  survivors  out  of  the  class 
of  eleven  undergraduates  who,  in  the  year  1861, 
used  to  meet  the  Prince  of  Wales  twice  a  week 
in  Charles  Kingsley's  drawing-room  to  be  lectured 
on  the  reigns  of  our  British  Sovereigns  from  William 
in.  to  George  iv.,  inclusive.  I  still  regard  those 
lectures  as  among  the  most  stimulating  hours  of  my 
life.  .  .  .  Can  any  one  imagine  Kingsley  conducting 
a  course  of  lectures  confined  to  facts  and  dates  ? 
Till  I  read  Miss  M.  Bowen's  presentation  of 
William  in.,  I  had  never  read  since  the  year  1861 
anything  so  full  of  life  as  I  listened  to  in  Fitz- 


viii  PREFACE 

william  Street,  Cambridge.     We  were  not  confined 
either  to  persons.1 

Kingsley  "  treated  exhaustively "  (Mr.  Lee- 
Warner  tells  us),  for  the  benefit  of  the  Prince  of 
Wales  and  the  ten  other  undergraduates,  the 
questions  of  Divine  Right,  the  growth  of  the 
National  Debt,  freedom  of  the  Press,  bribery  at 
elections,  the  right  of  Sovereigns  to  appoint 
Ministers  or  not  against  the  choice  of  the  Commons, 
the  growth  of  our  Empire,  and  the  French  Revolu- 
tion, and  other  questions  which  Mr.  Lee- Warner 
does  not  particularly  remember.  "  Kingsley 
would  have  indignantly  denied  that  it  was  difficult 
to  interest  His  Royal  Highness  in  his  lessons." 

So  much  for  the  Dictionary's  assertion  that 
Charles  Kingsley  taught  his  pupils  only  "  bare 
facts  and  dates."  Mr.  Lee-Warner's  letter  was 
published  in  the  "  Spectator,"  but  elicited  no 
reply  from  the  editor  of  the  Dictionary.  Kingsley's 
teaching  was  of  incalculable  benefit  to  King 
Edward,  who  made  the  best  use  of  it.  I  have  dwelt 
upon  this  point  because  in  the  newspaper  reviews 
of  the  Dictionary's  Memoir  (June  1912)  so  much 
was  made  of  it  to  the  detriment  of  the  King. 

It  is  well  known  that  the  principal  daily  news- 
papers prepare  biographies  of  Sovereigns  and  others 
in  view  of  eventualities — assassinations,  sudden 
deaths,  and  the  like  ;  otherwise  the  journals  could 
not  possibly  publish  long  memoirs  on  the  morning 
following  the  event.  The  King  of  the  Hellenes 

JThe  "Spectator,"  June  15,  1912. 


PREFACE  ix 

was  assassinated  one  afternoon  at  Salonica ;  on 
the  next  morning  our  papers  gave  their  readers  a 
complete  memoir  of  the  ill-fated  Monarch.  On 
June  30,  1913,  shortly  before  midnight,  Henri 
Rochefort  died  at  Aix-les-Bains.  The  bare  fact 
was  announced  next  day  in  the  evening  papers' 
first  edition,  on  sale  at  12  o'clock  :  the  "  Star," 
in  its  edition  published  about  4,  gave  an  admirable 
biographical  sketch  of  the  celebrated  journalist, 
occupying  nearly  a  column — a  feat  worthy  of 
record. 

It  may  not  be — we  will  assume  it  is  not — 
necessary  for  a  publication  like  the  "  Dictionary 
of  National  Biography  "  to  adopt  this  plan,  as  in 
the  case  of  such  a  work  two  or  three  years  make 
little  difference.  The  truth  is  that  our  journalism 
has  attained  such  perfection  as  to  render  so-called 
biographical  dictionaries  not  merely  unnecessary, 
but  comparatively  useless.  The  memoir  of  an 
eminent  person  is  in  its  right  place  in  the  daily 
paper,  because  it  is  published  as  a  matter  of  news. 
We  learn,  moreover,  all  that  we  want  to  know  about 
celebrated  people  while  they  are  alive,  and  that  is 
the  proper  time  for  book-makers  to  write  about 
them,  for,  if  inaccurately  depicted,  they  are  in  a 
position  to  defend  themselves.  There  is  scarcely 
a  person  of  any  distinction  of  whom  we  have  not 
had  full  details  in  the  daily,  weekly,  or  monthly 
publications,  usually  accompanied  by  portraits, 
which  are  sometimes  more  appreciated  than  the 
letterpress.  All  the  leading  events  and  episodes 
in  the  lives  of  Queen  Victoria  and  King  Edward 


x  PREFACE 

were  made  known  to  the  public  while  they  were 
still  among  us.  What  more  did  the  most  loyal 
of  their  subjects  desire  to  know  about  them  ? 
They  certainly  did  not  want  to  be  told  two  years 
after  his  death  that  King  Edward  was  not  pre- 
cisely the  great  man  the  whole  Press  and  the  whole 
world  of  statesmen,  diplomatists,  and  politicians 
had  assured  them  he  was,  but  a  rather  indifferent 
Sovereign,  whose  very  title,  "  The  King-Peace- 
maker," was  only  !( symbolically  just,"  whose 
intellectual  powers  were  so  limited  that  "  he  was 
no  reader  of  books,"  and  indeed  "  could  not  con- 
centrate his  mind  upon  them,"  added  to  which 
was  such  bathos  as  "he  was  not  much  of  a  dramatic 
critic  "  !  These  are  examples  of  the  sorry  stuff 
which  was  gravely  put  before  us  two  years  after 
his  death.  Would  Sir  Sidney  Lee  have  dared  to 
write  so  of  the  King  during  his  lifetime  ?  Was  it 
not  a  thousand  times  more  indefensible  to  have  so 
written  of  Edward  vn.  when  he  was  in  the  grave  ? 
May  other  members  of  King  Edward's  family — one 
in  particular — look  forward  to  being  similarly 
maltreated — apres  mort  ?  When  he  was  trying 
a  man  for  writing  treasonable  letters,  Lord  Chief 
Justice  Mansfield  held  that  to  satirise  even  a  dead 
Sovereign  was  punishable.1  The  depreciatory 
passages  in  the  Dictionary  are  not  intended  for 
satire — they  are  deliberately  put  before  us  as 
facts,  and  Sir  Sidney  Lee  has  publicly  declared 
that  they  are  "  all  true." 

Of   the   King   and   the   Entente   Cordiale,  Sir 

1  Vide  Chap.  VII. 


PREFACE  xi 

Sidney  Lee  says  :    "  No  direct  responsibility  for 
its  initiation  or  conclusion  belonged  to  him." 

The     "  Times "     (June     24,    1913)     declares  : 

'  When  M.  Fallieres  was  our  guest,  the  friendship 

of  which  King  Edward  and  M.  Loubet  had  sowed 

the  seed  had  proved  that  it  was  too  deep-rooted  for 

any  storms  to  shake." 

The  "  Daily  Mail  "  (same  date)  speaks  of  "  the 
Entente,  which  owed  its  birth  to  the  late  King's 
memorable  mission  to  Paris  just  ten  years  ago" 

The    *'  Daily    Graphic 5!    (same    date)    writes  : 
'  When  the  foundations  of  the  Entente  were  laid  by 
the  audacious  good  humour  of  King  Edward"  etc. 

M.  Poincare's  "  Message  to  the  British  Nation  " 
(published  by  all  the  papers  on  June  26)  contained 
these  words  :  "  The  visit  I  have  come  to  pay 
to  His  Majesty  King  George  affords  me  a  unique 
opportunity  of  testifying  to  the  unanimous  senti- 
ments of  the  French  nation  towards  the  son  of  the 
glorious  Sovereign  under  whose  auspices  the  fruitful 
friendship  between  Great  Britain  and  France  was 
established." 

Those  who  believe  the  Dictionary  must  dis- 
believe the  solemn  words  of  the  President  of  the 
Republic,  and  regard  the  opinions  of  the  "  Times  " 
and  the  other  journals  quoted  as  moonshine. 

If  the  Dictionary's  assertions  depreciating  King 
Edward  were  accurate  and  provable,  all  the 
leading  articles  published  by  the  world's  Press  in 
May  1910,  and  all  those  published  in  June  1913  ; 
all  the  speeches,  all  the  publicly-expressed  opinions 
of  statesmen  and  diplomatists  of  every  country, 


xii  PREFACE 

all  the  eulogies  of  preachers,  all  the  resolutions 
passed  by  public  bodies,  would  have  to  be  blotted 
out,  and  on  the  pages  containing  them  we  should 
have  to  write  in  red  ink  :  "  All  these  are  untrue." 
The  portraits  of  Sir  Sidney  Lee's  "  informers  " 
have  not  yet  graced  the  pages  of  the  "  Sketch  " 
or  the  "  Tatler."  The  "  informers  I  "—a  noble 
band  I 

Though  those  that  are  betray'd 
Do  feel  the  treason  sharply,  yet  the  traitor 
Stands  in  worse  case  of  woe. 

Tacitus  defines  "  informers  "  as  "a  description 
of  men  introduced  for  the  public  destruction,  and 
never  sufficiently  restrained  by  penalties."  They 
were  "  invited  to  action  by  rewards."  They 
"  swarmed  and  flourished  in  Imperial  Rome." 
They  have  swarmed,  but  I  hope  not  flourished,  in 
Imperial  London  in  the  reign  of  George  v. 

By  a  combination  of  betrayals  and  deplorable 
editorial  credulity  our  great  King's  repute  was  for 
a  while  besmirched  and  his  intellectual  prowess 
obscured.  Ruskin  has  told  us  in  a  biting  sentence 
what  one  "fool"  can  do:  "  In  all  things  whatsoever 
there  is  no  design  so  great  or  good  but  it  will  take 
twenty  wise  men  to  move  it  forward  a  few  inches  ; 
and  a  single  fool  can  stop  it  ...  a  single  fool  will 
bring  it  down." 

Although  the  Dictionary  is  criticised,  although 
its  memoirs  of  Edward  vn.  and  the  poet  Swinburne 
have  lessened  its  prestige,  it  will  probably  survive 
the  ridicule  which  it  has  drawn  upon  itself, 


PREFACE  xiii 

and  continue  to  be  patronised  by  club  fossils  and 
dipped  into  by  the  privileged  persons  who  pass 
their  lives  in  the  British  Museum  reading-room. 
A  museum  is  a  fitting  receptacle  for  it.  But  those 
patient  grubbers  who  go  to  Bloomsbury  in  quest 
of  information  concerning  the  men  and  women 
of  the  past  will  remember,  when  they  turn  to  the 
pages  containing  the  memoirs  of  the  great  King 
and  the  great  poet,  how  the  "  Daily  Telegraph  " 
pilloried  the  gaucheries  of  the  Dictionary,  and  how 
the  "  Daily  Mail  "  trampled  its  unfortunate  asser- 
tions underfoot ;  and  they  will  hardly  have  missed 
reading  the  Swinburne  correspondence  and  his 
poor  sister's  complaint  in  the  "  Times." 

The  success  of  "  King  Edward  in  his  True 
Colours  "  was  fully  anticipated  by  me.  A  second 
(English)  edition  followed  closely  upon  the  heels 
of  the  first,  and  there  were  Colonial  and  American 
editions.  I  have  been  honoured  by  the  most 
gracious  recognition  of  the  accuracy  of  my  portrait 
of  the  King.  Such  unsolicited  testimony  to  the 
historical  value  and  usefulness  of  the  book  will 
ever  be  a  cherished  souvenir.  This  highly-prized 
appreciation  of  the  volume  has  been  fully  endorsed 
by  my  public.  My  readers  felt  that  nothing  but 
the  plain  truth  concerning  our  dear  King  had  been 
placed  before  them,  and  that  the  pen  which  wrote 
it  had  been  inspired  by  patriotism  and  loyalty  to 
the  Dynasty  as  well  as  by  a  consuming  desire  to 
replace  Edward  the  Seventh  of  glorious  and  loving 
memory  upon  the  pedestal  which  he  had  justly 
occupied. 


xiv  PREFACE 

"  A  blow  with  a  word  strikes  deeper  than  a  blow 
with  a  sword."  When  a  King  such  as  Edward  vn. 
is  in  question,  we  cannot  listen  without  deep 
pain  and  impatience  to  those  who,  on  the  printed 
page  of  a  monumental  work,"  would  have  us 
consider  him  a  mediocrity.  No,  we  resent  such 
''  injuries  "  with  all  the  force  at  our  command. 
And  we  ask  this  gentleman — Where  wras  your 
patriotism,  where  your  loyalty  to  the  King  who 
honoured  you,  when  you  wrote  those  words  which 
filled  the  heart  of  your  Socialist  admirer  with  joy, 
and  sent  the  Paris  journalist  Judet  into  paroxysms 
of  delight  ?  Did  you  bestow  a  thought  upon  the 
widowed  Queen,  still  in  her  garb  of  woe  ?  Did 
you  ask  yourself  if  your  wounding  phrases  would 
soothe  her  lacerated  heart  ?  Did  you  think  of  the 
dead  King's  children — one  a  King,  another  a 
Queen  ?  Do  you  respect,  or  do  you  mock  at  the 
injunction,  "  De  mortuis  nil  nisi  bonum  "  ? 

In  my  second  volume  are  presented  more  of  the 
King's  characteristics — his  attributes — which  a 
plethora  of  other  matters  and  a  desire  to  give 
the  reader  variety  prevented  me  from  previously 
noting.  The  theft  of  the  Crown  Regalia  from 
Dublin  Castle  is  narrated,  and,  for  the  first  time, 
the  effect  upon  the  King  is  described.  I  regard 
this  episode  as  one  of  the  leading  events  of  the 
nine  years'  reign.  I  am  sure  the  King  so  con- 
sidered it ;  I  am  equally  certain,  from  the  infor- 
mation which  has  been  placed  at  my  disposal  by 
knowledgeable  Irish  friends,  that  this  ugly  business 
caused  the  Sovereign  the  utmost  exasperation 


PREFACE  xv 

and  dismay.  It  was  not  merely  the  material  loss 
of  the  jewels  which  provoked  the  anger  of  one 
who  was  ordinarily  so  self-possessed  ;  environing 
circumstances,  the  nature  of  which  I  am  not 
disposed  to  describe  explicitly  for  reasons  of 
public  policy,  added  fuel  to  the  flame.  I  believe 
this  story  of  a  crime  has  not  its  parallel.  The 
"  information "  which  has  been  unwisely  pub- 
lished in  the  papers  from  time  to  time  has  been 
denied  by  the  Chief  Secretary  in  the  House  of 
Commons,  the  libellous  statements  reflecting  upon 
Lord  Haddo  (son  of  the  Lord-Lieutenant)  included. 

The  Dictionary's  Memoir  has  been  now  supple- 
mented by  the  momentous  assertion  of  the 
"  Times  "  (May  1913)  that  "  it  is  well  known  that 
King  Edward  was  no  very  devoted  student  of 
poetry  !  "  This  nonsense  appeared  in  an  article 
on  '  The  Laureateship,"  the  writer  of  which 
displayed  his  intimate  acquaintance  with  poets 
and  poetry  by  attributing  to  the  serious  Words- 
worth a  Bon  Gaultier  parody  !  Some  blunderer 
will  next  be  assuring  us  that  the  King  had  never 
been  "  a  very  devoted  student "  of  the  art  of 
spelling,  and  was  compelled  to  have  frequent 
recourse  to  the  Dictionary  (not  the  D.N.B.).  To 
the  King's  attitude  to  poetry  a  chapter  is  devoted. 

Edward  vn.  both  as  Prince  and  as  King,  but 
particularly  as  Heir-Apparent,  passed  some  of  his 
happiest  days  in  Austria-Hungary,  with  whose 
Emperor-King  he  had  been  for  many  years  on 
terms  of  the  most  charming  intimacy,  and  to 
whose  son,  Rudolf,  he  was  sincerely  attached. 


xvi  PREFACE 

For  this  reason  his  visits  to  the  twin-countries  are 
narrated  by  an  eye-witness  of  the  events.  I  regret 
that  the  necessity  of  putting  this  volume  in  the 
printers'  hands  at  the  beginning  of  July  deprived 
me  of  the  advantage  of  hearing  from  the  lips  of 
Prince  Tassilo  Festetics  those  additional  details 
which  this  devoted  friend  of  the  King  so  generously 
promised  to  place  at  my  disposal  when  he  next 
visited  London.  It  is  to  be  deplored  that  by  the 
death  of  Edward  vn.  a  strong  international 
personal  tie  between  the  two  empires  was 
snapped. 

I  could  not  resist  the  opportunity  of  paying  a 
tribute  to  Lord  Knollys  on  his  retirement  from 
the  Private  Secretaryship.  To  that  distinguished 
guide,  philosopher,  and  friend  of  King  Edward 
the  Empire  owes  a  debt  of  gratitude  for  his  life- 
time of  service  loyally,  efficiently,  and  silently 
performed,  and  continued  to  the  great  advantage 
of  our  present  sagacious  and  tactful  Ruler  for 
nearly  three  years  after  the  calamity  of  1910.  It 
is  matter  for  congratulation  that  there  has  been 
found  in  Lord  Stamfordham  so  worthy  a  successor. 

I  hope  the  account  of  the  attacks  made  upon 
Queen  Victoria  and  the  Prince  Consort  will  add 
to  the  historical  value  of  this  volume.  They 
should  prove  interesting  if  only  because  they 
show  that  the  eldest  son  of  Victoria  and  Albert 
was  not  the  sole  victim  of  the  traducers'  en- 
venomed shafts,  and  that  the  Legislature  as  a 
body  and  Mr.  Gladstone  as  an  individual  hastened 
to  protect  the  young  Queen  and  her  husband 


PREFACE  xvii 

from  their  dastardly  assailants.  Mr.  Gladstone 
had  his  own  bitter  experiences  of  detraction,  but 
it  should  be  remembered  to  his  eternal  honour 
that  he  rallied  to  the  defence  of  the  Monarchy  in 
its  time  of  stress.  The  services  so  rendered  by 
the  great  Liberal  Minister  were  not  too  deeply 
graven  in  the  Queen's  otherwise  retentive  memory. 

The  Monarchical  Renaissance  which  set  in  with 
King  Edward's  Reign,  the  Parliamentary  discus- 
sion over  the  Royal  Children's  allowances,  the  late 
Sovereign  as  Prince  of  Wales,  and  the  present  full- 
steam-ahead  Monarch  as  Duke  of  York,  the  history 
of  King  Edward's  last  illness,  and  the  canards 
respecting  the  problematic  official  biography  are 
subjects  treated  in  more  or  less  detail,  and  there 
are  some  stories  for  the  amusement  of  the  idlers 
in  literary  pastures. 

My  gratitude  to  the  British,  Colonial,  American, 
French,  and  Hungarian  reviewers  of  "  King  Edward 
in  his  True  Colours  "  is  unbounded.  In  a  spirit 
of  delicate  compliment  the  "  Daily  Telegraph " 
hinted  that  I  ought  to  have  written  an  orthodox 
biography  of  Edward  vn.  But  that  was  not  my 
intention.  I  could  not  have  produced  a  satis- 
factory work  of  that  kind  without  being  accorded 
"  facilities  " — permission  to  copy  original  docu- 
ments, letters,  and  memoranda  in  general ;  and 
without  many  other  aids  to  compiling  a  cut-and- 
dried  biography.  All  that  kind  of  assistance  will 
rightly  be  afforded  the  compilers  of  the  properly- 
called  "  official "  work.  My  sole  object  was  to 
present  such  episodes  and  events  as  I  could  treat 

b 


xviii  PREFACE 

with  some  satisfaction  to  myself  and  the  public. 
And  that  I  have  done  to  the  best  of  my  ability. 
I  will  only  add  that  my  experiences  concerning 
my  first  volume  were  interesting  and  amusing. 

The  present  book  was  completed  before  the 
Presidential  fetes  and  the  celebration  of  Alexandra 
Day  in  June  1913.  M.  Poincare,  on  his  return 
to  France,  favoured  the  "Daily  Chronicle's" 
correspondent  with  some  confidences  that  he  had 
not  given  to  others.  He  declared  that  his  recep- 
tion in  London  was  "  the  apotheosis  of  the  Entente 
Cordiale,"  as  it  unquestionably  was.  But  it  was 
also  the  apotheosis  of  Edward  vn.  This  was 
admitted  by  leading  papers — the  "  Times,"  the 
"Daily  Mail,"  and  the  "Daily  Graphic  "—not 
in  the  precise  words  here  used,  but  in  their  spirit. 
This  view  of  the  event  may  not  have  occurred  to 
the  populace  until  they  read  the  papers,  but  we 
may  hope  that  it  will  not  be  lost  sight  of.  The 
President  had  returned  to  the  Elysee  when  the 
"  Temps,"  the  most  influential  of  the  French 
papers,  remarked  :  "  We  ought  to  render  thanks 
to  Edward  vn.  and  M.  Delcasse,  the  authors  of  the 
Entente"  It  was  a  felicitous  utterance,  but  un- 
fortunately it  escaped  the  notice  of  our  journals. 
As,  in  the  language  of  the  all-powerful  "  Temps," 
the  "  authors "  of  the  Franco-British  Under- 
standing were  King  Edward  and  the  former  French 
Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs,  so  were  the  King 
and  Count  Benckendorff  the  "  authors "  of  the 
Understanding  between  Great  Britain  and  Russia. 

The    obituary    notices  of    Arminius  Vambery 


PREFACE  xix 

(September  1913)  gave  him  credit  for  all  but  one 
of  his  achievements  —  his  defence  of  our  late 
Sovereign,  which  appeared  in  my  first  volume.  I 
am  grateful  to  the  editors  of  the  "  Daily  Chronicle," 
"  Morning  Post,"  "  Globe,"  and  "  Evening  News  " 
for  allowing  me  to  rectify  the  omission. 

By   a    happy    conjuncture    of    circumstances, 
President  Poincare,  the  eulogist  of  Queen  Victoria 
at  Nice  and  of  her  son  at  Cannes  in  April  1912, 
participated  in  the  celebration  of  Alexandra  Day. 
In  exchange  for  a  crisp  piece  of  paper  three  pretty 
"  misses  "  gave  him  an  armful  of  the  emblems  of 
the  occasion ;    and  he  witnessed  the  clou  of  the 
spectacle — the  promenade  of  THE  QUEENS.     Not 
only  was   this  the  event  of  the  day — it  was  the 
event   of   the   Reign.     Never   before   had    Queen 
Alexandra  and  Queen  Mary  gratified  the  million 
by  riding  together  through  the  decorated  streets 
of  London.     The  announcement  that  they  would 
so  appear  was  a  delightful  surprise.     It  was  the 
happening  of  the  unexpected.     At   five   minutes 
to  three  by  St.  James'  Palace  clock  we  saw  the 
younger  Lady  drive  unescorted  through  the  gate- 
way of  Marlborough  House.     Five  minutes  later 
came  the  sortie,  the  "  present  ar-r-ms !  "  and  the 
National    Anthem,    which,    labouring    under   the 
intoxication  of  the  moment,  we  took  the  liberty  of 
changing  into  "  God  save  the  Queens  !  "     Frenzied 
cheers,  waving  of  handkerchiefs,  baring  of  heads, 
and  a  chorus  of  "  Weren't  they  lovely  ?  " 

E.  L. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER   I 

ATTRIBUTES  OF  EDWARD  vn. — THE  KING'S  PORTENT 

PAGE 

The  Sovereign's  tragic  words — Strained  position  of  political 
affairs  and  its  effect  upon  the  King's  health — His  last 
years  of  stress — His  firmness — The  image-breaker — 
A  retrospect — The  question  of  Queen  Victoria's  abdica- 
tion— The  King  a  man  of  moods  :  "  Le  Roy  le  veult !  " — 
M.  Poincare's  tributes  to  Queen  Victoria  and  King 
Edward — The  King  as  the  world's  Peacemaker — King 
and  Tsar  at  Reval — Prince  of  Wales  and  Crown  Prince 
of  Prussia  (Emperor  Frederick) — Gambetta  .  .  1-32 

CHAPTER   II 
KING  EDWARD'S  ATTRIBUTES — (continued) 

His  fiftieth  birthday :  French  tributes — The  King  arranges 
marriages  of  Princess  Maud  and  Princess  En  a — Europe 
spellbound  by  Edward  vn. — The  King  and  the  German 
Press — Mr.  Bottomley's  eulogy  of  the  King — General 
Booth — A  supper  on  the  stage  of  the  Lyceum — Their 
Majesties  and  Henry  Irving — Busts  of  the  King: 
addresses  at  Manchester  University  .  .  .  33-54 

CHAPTER   III 
THE  IRON  FIST 

Theft  of  the  Dublin  Crown  Jewels — "I  will  have  no 
scandals  !  " — The  King's  indignation — Proceedings  of 

xxi 


xxii  CONTENTS 

PAGES 

the  Crown  Jewels  Commission — Statements  in  the 
House  of  Commons — Royal  visits  to  Ireland — Lord 
Salisbury  and  the  Viceroyalty — Various  Lords-Lieu- 
tenant— How  Lord  Salisbury  chose  Lord  Zetland  .  55-76 


CHAPTER   IV 
RENAISSANCE  OF  THE  MONARCHY 

Unpopularity  of  Queen  Victoria  after  the  Prince  Consort's 
death  :  suggested  abdication — Criticisms  of  the  Heir- 
Apparent — His  Diary  of  social  engagements  in  1891 — 
The  Queen's  ceremonial  duties  delegated  to  the 
Prince — The  Monarchical  situation  saved  by  the  Prince 
and  Princess  of  Wales — The  Prince's  work  detailed — 
Accession  of  Edward  vn. — Pageantry  in  the  new 
reign — Descriptions  of  scenes  .  .  .  77-101 


CHAPTER   V 
THE  " FIRST  GENTLEMAN"  ABROAD 

"The  Runabout  King" — Personal  narratives  of  visits  to 
Austria- Hungary  and  to  the  Riviera — At  Marienbad  : 
the  King  and  the  English  Church,  amusing  scene 
at  Fischl's  shop,  visitors  bowing  to  an  empty  chair, 
Marienbad  made  famous  by  Edward  vn.  as  Prince 
and  as  King,  an  historical  interview  with  the  Emperor 
of  Austria,  dinners  and  illuminations,  the  King  of 
Bulgaria  visits  King  Edward,  silhouettes  of  Edward  vn. 
by  Pick,  story  of  a  boot-shop  keeper  and  the  King's 
pneumatic  tyres,  the  King  visits  Mrs.  Standish,  his 
dog  steals  some  cake,  a  charming  anecdote  of  the  King 
when  hunting  with  the  Archduke  Rudolph,  British 
and  Australian  girls  honour  the  King  at  Ischl,  the 
King  and  the  Victoria  Home  for  British  Governesses 
at  Vienna — Intimate  sketch  of  the  King  and  his  dog 


CONTENTS  xxiii 

PAGES 

Peter  at  Cannes  by  a  friend  of  His   Majesty's  host 

and  hostess  102-124 


CHAPTER  VI 
ROYAL  CHILDREN'S  MONEY-BOXES 

Debates  on  the  grants  to  the  young  Princes  and  Princesses 
— Chamberlain,  Dilke,  Bradlaugh,  Labouchere,  Stead, 
Gladstone,  and  W.  H.  Smith — An  extra  annual  allow- 
ance of  £36,000  granted  to  the  Heir-Apparent  as 
trustee  for  his  children  (Mr.  Gladstone's  scheme)  125-133 


CHAPTER  VII 
CALUMNIATING  KING  EDWARD 

The  Dictionary  of  National  Biography's  Memoir  of  Edward 
vn. — Criticisms  and  refutations — Newspaper  attacks 
on  Queen  Victoria  and  the  Prince  Consort  and  discus- 
sions in  Parliament — Mr.  Gladstone,  in  a  newspaper, 
champions  the  Queen  and  the  Prince — The  attacks 
(in  1789)  on  the  Prince  of  Wales  and  the  Dukes  of 
York,  Clarence,  and  Cumberland — The  "Times"  and 
the  Royal  Princes  (1789) — Sir  Richard  Holmes  on 
King  Edward  and  his  libraries — The  "  Quarterly 
Review"  on  Sir  Henry  Burdett's  "Prince,  Princess, 
and  People  "— "  The  Golden  Book  of  King  Edward  VH." 
on  the  King's  literary  tastes  and  his  purchases  of 
books — Mr.  Keir  Hardie,  M.P.,  eulogises  the  Diction- 
ary's Memoir  of  King  Edward — The  "  Daily  Mail's  " 
criticism  of  the  Memoir— The  "Times,"  "Daily 
Graphic,"  and  "Daily  Mail"  on  King  Edward  and 
the  Entente  Cordiale — The  "Evening  Standard"  on 
"  The  Character  of  the  King  "  (1912)— Herr  Maximilian 
Harden  on  King  Edward  and  the  Kaiser — Miss  Isabel 
Swinburne  complains  in  the  "Times"  of  the  Dictionary's 


xxiv  CONTENTS 

PAGES 

Memoir  of  her  brother,  the  poet — Mr.  James  Douglas 
on  the  Memoirs  of  King  Edward  and  the  poet  Swin- 
burne— Becky  Sharp  and  the  "  Dixonary  "  .  134-178 


CHAPTER   VIII 

LORD  KNOLLYS 
An  appreciation  of  the  famous  Private  Secretary     .  179-182 

CHAPTER   IX 
WHEN  EDWARD  vn.  WAS  PRINCE  AND  GEORGE  v.  DUKE 

Reminiscences  of  1893 — The  engagement  of  the  Duke 
of  York  and  Princess  "May"  and  their  appearance 
together  in  public  —  Scenes  in  the  Park  —  Queen 
Victoria  .....  183-197 

CHAPTER  X 

THE  "  OFFICIAL  "  BIOGRAPHY 

What  the  papers  said — Some  amusing  statements — Mr. 
Oliver  Gwynne  (Manchester  "  Sunday  Chronicle  ")  on 
the  Memoir  of  Edward  vn.  and  King  Edward's  influence 
with  the  Press — Queen  Alexandra  and  newspaper  mis- 
statements  .....  198-207 

CHAPTER   XI 
KING  EDWARD  AND  POETRY 

Comments  on  the  "Times"  assertion  (1913)  that  the  King 
"was  no  very  devoted  student  of  poetry" — A  poem 
"In  Memory  of  Princess  Alice  Maud  Mary,  Grand 
Duchess  of  Hesse-Darmstadt/'  by  the  late  Miss  Lcetitia 


CONTENTS  xxv 

(PAGES 

Probyn  (sister  of  General  Sir  Dighton  Probyn,  Comp- 
troller of  Queen  Alexandra's  Household) — "  For  Papa's 
Birthday,"  lines  written  by  Queen  Alexandra  for  her 
children  to  repeat  to  their  father  on  November  9  208-220 

CHAPTER  XII 

HISTORY  OF  THE  KING'S  ILLNESS 

The  Authorised  Report  drawn  up  by  His  Majesty's 
Physicians  (1910) — Leaflet  issued  by  the  Parliamentary 
Anti-Vivisection  Society — Queen  Alexandra's  letter 
thereon  read  in  the  Court  of  King's  Bench  (1913)  221-227 

CHAPTER   XIII 
KING  EDWARD  IN  STORY 

Anecdotes  of  Edward  vn.  and  others — The  King  and  the 

deaf-and-dumb  language — His  Majesty  and  Miss 

— The  esprit  he  admired — The  orange-woman  and 
"Teddy" — Queen  Victoria  shows  "How  the  Prince 
Imperial  looked  " — What  happened  to  the  Empress 
Eugenie — The  Heir-Apparent  and  the  stranger — 
"That  does  not  matter,  my  dear  Febvre" — The  King 
as  a  "proof-reader — What  he  told  Paoli — The  Prince 
and  Mr.  Hooley :  words  of  advice — A  Sandringham 

story — Vivian  ,  the   King,  and  the  Marlborough 

Club — "  Punch  "  and  the  Prince's  cricket  bat — What 
the  King  carried  in  his  pockets — A  Marlborough  House 
dinner-party  —  Jostling  the  Prince  —  Enterprising 
American  Publishers  and  Editors — Vambery  and  the 
Royal  Birthday  Book — A  Marlborough  House  incident 
— The  King  gives  Lionel  Brough  two  "winners" — 
The  Prince's  right  eye — The  Prince  of  Wales  and  the 
Shah — What  the  Prince  saw  at  the  "  Figaro  "  office — 
"The  Prince  is  more  liberal  about  Home  Rule  than 
most  of  them"— "Hullo!  There's  Smith !  "—The 


xxvi  CONTENTS 

PAGES 

Prince,  the  Duke  of  Cambridge,  and  Mr.  Bottomley — 
"  My  friend  Farini " — How  an  interview  with  the  Tsar 
was  obtained — The  Two  Queens  .  .  228-358 


CHAPTER   XIV 
AROUND  KING  EDWARD'S  FAMILY 

Queen  Alexandra's  characteristics — "The  Queen  is  a  fair 
woman,  not  a  brunette "  —  The  Empress  Marie 
Feodorovna,  "  One  of  the  silent  forces  of  Europe  " — 
The  Sisters — The  Empress  and  her  son  as  "  prisoners  " 
at  Copenhagen  and  Peterhof :  fantastic  stories — Queen 
Alexandra  and  her  regiment :  verses  from  the  "  Green 
Howards'  Gazette" — The  Empress  Frederick,  her 
Consort,  William  n.,  Bismarck,  and  others,  portrayed 
by  Gustav  Freytag  in  his  Letters  to  his  Wife — The 
Emperor  Frederick's  Doctors  and  Sir  Morell  Mac- 
kenzie— Queen  Victoria  and  the  Ambassador-Extra- 
ordinary of  Emperor  William  n. — The  Kaiser's 
opposition  to  his  Mother — Freytag's  statements 
traversed  by  Professor  Leinhaas  (friend  and  Librarian 
of  the  Empress  Frederick) — Queen  Alexandra  and 
King  George  v. — Her  Majesty  and  the  late  Duke  of 
Devonshire  .....  359-389 


LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS 

KING  EDWARD  vn.  .....         Frontispiece 

Reproduced  exclusively  for  this  work  by  permission  of  Mr. 

ALBERT  BRUCE-JOY,  the  distinguished  sculptor.  Photo, 
W.  E.  GRAY. 

FACING  PAGE 

KING    EDWARD    ON    BOARD    THE    DREADNOUGHT   (August 

1907) .......  44 

Photo,  STEPHEN  CRIBB,  Southsea. 

QUEEN  ALEXANDRA  .....  96 

From  a  photo  by  LAFAYETTE. 

KING  EDWARD  AFTER  HIS  CURE  AT  MARIENBAD  IN  1904  .         104 

From  a  sketch  never  before  reproduced. 

BRONZE    RELIEF    OF    H.I.  MAJESTY  FRANZ   JOSEF  AND  OF 

KING  EDWARD  vn.       .  .  .  .  .112 

In  King  Edward's  Walk,  Marienbad.  Reproduced  by  special 
permission  of  the  eminent  Vienna  sculptor,  GUSTAV 
GURSCHNER.  Photograph  by  SCHRAMM,  Vienna. 

KING  EDWARD  AS  GRANDMASTER  OF  THE  KNIGHTS  HOSPI- 
TALLERS OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  JERUSALEM  AND  CHEVALIER 
OF  MALTA  .  .  .  .  .  .184 

The  costume  he  wore  at  the  famous  Diamond  Jubilee  Ball  at 
Devonshire  House.  Photo,  LAFAYETTE.  , 

KING   EDWARD   ON   HIS   LAST  VISIT  TO   BIARRITZ  AT  THE         224 
END  OF  MARCH  1910  ..... 

PhotO,  JUGAND. 

KING  EDWARD  AND  QUEEN  ALEXANDRA     .  .  .         246 

From  two  little  known  Danish  photographs. 
xxvii 


xxviii        LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

FACING   PAGE 

A  FAMILY  GROUP  AT  SANDRINGHAM  IN  1.902         .  .         324 

King  Edward,  the  German  Emperor,  Queen  Alexandra,  King 
George,  with  his  sister  (Princess  Victoria),  and  his  children. 
Photo,  LAFAYETTE. 

THE  Two  QUEENS  ......         358 

Queen  Mary  and  Queen  Alexandra  on  "  Alexandra  Day,"  1913. 
Photo,  DAILY  MIRROR. 

THREE  ROYAL  SISTERS  AT  THE  CASTLE  BERNSTOFF  .         374 

Queen  Alexandra  (centre),  The  Dowager  Empress  of  Russia 
(left),  and  the  Duchess  of  Cumberland.  Photo,  FERSLEW 
&  Co.,  Copenhagen. 


MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 


CHAPTER   I 

ATTRIBUTES  OF  EDWARD  VII. THE  KING'S  PORTENT 

He  is  possessed  by  a  commanding  spirit, 

And  his,  too,  is  the  station  of  command. 

And  well  for  us  it  is  so. 

Well  for  the  whole  if  there  be  found  a  man 

Who  makes  himself  what  Nature  destined  him, 

The  poise,  the  central  point  of  thousand  thousands. 

SCHILLER. 

"Mr  son  may  reign,  but  my  grandson  never  will ! " 
These  tragic  words  were  wrung  from  King 
Edward  by  the  events  which  embittered  the  last 
two  years  of  his  life — events  which  had  a  disastrous 
effect  upon  his  bodily  health,  so  that  he  was  said 
to  have  been  "  worried  to  death."  x  That  was 
characterised  by  the  "  Manchester  Guardian  "as 
"  an  exploded  fable."  The  King's  physicians  did 
not  so  regard  it,  for  in  the  authorised  report  of  his 
last  illness  2  this  significant  sentence  appears  : 

"  It  must  here  be  said  that  those  around  him  knew 
how  earnestly  concerned  he  was  at  the  present  strained 

1  "  King  Edward  in  his  True  Colours."     Eveleigh  Nash,  1912. 

2  The  "  Lancet,"  May  14,  1910. 

i 


?  MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

position  of  political  affairs,  and  this  fact  should  not 
be  lost  sight  of  in  an  all-round  consideration  of  the 
King's  health. — FRANCIS  HENRY  LAKING,  M.D. ; 
JAMES  REID,  M.D. ;  R.  DOUGLAS  POWELL,  M.D." 

Disintegration  of  the  empire,  overriding  of  the 
House  of  Lords — was  it  not  within  the  bounds  of 
possibility  that  the  extinction  of  the  Monarchy 
might  have  been  anticipated  by  the  King  ere  his 
grandson  could  ascend  the  Throne  ?  The  King,  in 
his  hours  of  chagrin  (and  about  these  there  will  be 
no  dispute)  at  his  impotence  to  resist  the  rushing 
torrent,  may  have  been  unduly  pessimistic  ;  yet 
he  could  not  refrain  from  uttering  the  words  cited, 
which  I  know  he  spoke.  And  who  would  regret 
the  abolition  of  the  Monarchy — who,  even  the 
most  loyal,  would  raise  a  finger  to  save  it — if  the 
estimate  formed  by  Sir  Sidney  Lee  of  King 
Edward,  and  endorsed  by  the  Socialist  Keir 
Hardie  and  the  fiery  Judet,  were  true  to  the  letter  ? 
But  it  was  not. 

There  is  never  any  surplusage  in  such  docu- 
ments as  the  one  above  cited,  signed  by  the  King's 
doctors.  Every  word  is  weighed ;  only  plain 
facts  are  stated.  Rarely  does  a  medical  memo- 
randum contain  a  sentence  parallel  to  that  quoted 
from  the  "  Lancet."  Plain-spoken  people  who 
loved  their  King  (and  I  hope  he  was  not  merely 
respected  and  esteemed,  but  truly  loved,  by  all — 
'twere  pity,  indeed,  were  it  not  so  !)  may  be 
pardoned  for  saying  to  one  another  :  "  The  worry 
killed  him ! "  That  is,  perhaps,  un  peu  fort,  but 
it  might  not  be  far  from  the  truth  to  assert  that 


KING  EDWARD'S  ATTRIBUTES  3 

the  "  worry  '  and  the  terrible  strain  upon  his 
mental  faculties  told  upon  him  to  a  greater  extent 
than  "  the  uninitiated  crowd  "  would  have  deemed 
possible.  He  knew  his  time  had  come ;  but, 
brave  man,  he  would,  and  did,  "  work  on  till  the 
end." 

"  The  first  attribute  of  a  good  sportsman," 
said  the  King  after  his  Ambush  n.  had  won  the 
Grand  National  in  1900,  "  has  always  been  con- 
sidered to  be  neither  unduly  elated  by  success  nor 
dismayed  by  reverses."  This  was  his  own  rule 
of  life,  but  there  were  times  when  the  precept 
failed  to  sustain  him  and  he  relapsed  into  one  of 
his  moods.  It  was,  I  believe,  in  one  of  his  moment- 
ary fits  of  depression,  within  a  year  or  so  of  his 
death,  that  he  gave  utterance  to  those  desponding 
thoughts  touching  the  duration  of  the  Monarchy 
to  which  I  have  referred.  These  gloomy  fore- 
bodings may  have  been  prompted  by  the  trend 
of  political  events  which  are  too  fresh  in  the 
memories  of  all  to  need  recapitulation  here.  As 
we  know  through  Vambery,  and  as  I  further  know 
from  a  lifelong  friend  of  King  Edward,  the  Sovereign 
"  read  everything  in  book  and  pamphlet  form  " 
concerning  his  "trade,"  his  "  Guild,"  and  we  must 
not  be  led  astray  by  anything  to  the  contrary. 
It  may  well  be,  then,  that  the  King,  who  really 
could  read,  as  well  as  write,  had  perused  in  Sir 
Spencer  Walpole's  "  Studies  in  Biography"  certain 
Disraelian  dicta  culled  from  "  Coningsby v  and 
"  Sybil  "  ;  e.g. :  "  The  only  way  to  terminate 
class  legislation  is  not  to  entrust  power  to  classes. 


4  MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

.  .  .  The  only  power  that  has  no  class  sympathy 
is  the  Sovereign."  "  The  proper  leader  of  the 
people  is  the  individual  who  sits  upon  the  Throne." 
"  As  the  power  of  the  Crown  has  diminished  the 
privileges  of  the  people  have  disappeared,  till 
at  length  the  sceptre  has  become  a  pageant,  and 
its  subject  has  degenerated  into  a  serf." 

Some  such  thoughts  may  have  been  in  King 
Edward's  mind  when  he  ruminated  on  the  "  stay- 
ing "  powers  of  the  Monarchy,  and  (according 
to  a  living  witness)  ventured  upon  the  amazing 
prediction  :  "  My  son  may  reign,  but  my  grandson 
never  will  !  v 

Gloomy  utterances  of  this  description  did  not 
come  within  the  category  of  his  attributes — far 
from  it.  But  it  must  be  remembered — it  can 
never  be  forgotten  even  by  the  least  reflective — 
that  the  last  two  years  of  his  life  were  times  of 
grievous  stress,  when  the  iron  entered  into  his 
soul,  when  he  may  well  have  been  driven  into 
dire  forebodings  of  what  might  conceivably  happen. 
Home  Rule  with  empire  disintegration,  the  Parlia- 
ment Act,  and  the  expressed  intention  of  the  Cabinet 
to  procure,  if  necessary,  the  creation  of  five 
hundred  new  Peers  for  the  sole  purpose  of  carrying 
out  the  behests  of  an  iconoclastic  Ministry — the 
King  would  have  been  less  than  human  had  he 
not  regarded  these  as  evil  portents.  His  mind  was 
perturbed,  his  body  was  weakened — not  seriously 
perhaps,  but  still  weakened.  And  he  was  not 
the  man  he  had  been.  How  could  it  have  been 
otherwise  when  he  had  heard  the  knocking  at 


KING  EDWARD'S  ATTRIBUTES  5 

the  very  doors  of  the  Palace  and  the  stern  dema- 
gogic summons  :  "  Do  as  you  are  bidden,  or " 

Or  what  ?     "Or  you  will  be  compelled  to  do  it  by 
force  majeure  !  ' 

We  shall  not  see  another  Victorian  or  Edwardian 
reign.  While  both  our  late  Sovereigns  sustained 
occasional  rebuffs,  a  strong  tide  flowed  in  their 
favour  during  the  long  rule  of  the  one  and  the 
short  rule  of  the  other.  Victoria  i.  had  passed  into 
the  realm  of  legend  long  ere  she  was  lost  to  us.  The 
manner  of  her  accession  comprised  many  of  the 
elements  of  a  fairy  story — of  a  romance,  at  the 
very  least.  The  summoning  of  the  girl  of  eighteen 
from  her  bedroom  at  Kensington  Palace  at  five  in 
the  morning  to  be  told  that  the  King  was  dead  and 
that  she  was  Queen  ;  her  "  coaching  "  by  that 
rough  diamond,  Melbourne  ;  her  early  betrothal 
and  marriage  ;  her  tussles  with  her  Ministers  ; 
her  forcefulness,  sometimes  carried  to  domineering ; 
her  sentimentalism,  as  shown  by  her  letters  to  her 
uncle  Leopold  ;  her  pity  for  her  soldiers  and  sailors 
in  time  of  war,  and  for  the  victims  of  disasters  at 
home  ;  her  paralysing  grief  for  her  Consort,  and 
her  withdrawal  from  the  world,  which  moved  the 
Press  to  remonstrate  with  her,  and  to  remind  her 
of  the  duty  which  she  owed  to  the  nation — these 
events  individually  formed  epochs  in  her  sovereignty. 
She  had  not  only  many  hours,  but  very  many  years 
"  of  glorious  life,"  and  her  reign,  as  a  whole,  is 
rightly  characterised  as  magnificent  beyond  com- 
parison. 

The  reign  of  her  son,  had  it  begun  earlier,  would 


6  MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

have  been  perhaps  even  more  splendid  than  his 
mother's.  They  were  devoted  to  each  other. 
The  Queen  would  never  have  "  said  things "  to 
her  son's  detriment.  Had  she  done  so  none  but 
the  most  callous  would  have  revealed  such  con- 
fidences to  a  biographer.  "  The  Queen  talked 
most,  and  very  freely  and  confidingly,  about  the 
Prince  of  Wales." *  Considering  the  brevity  of 
King  Edward's  term  of  governance,  it  was  more 
brilliant  than  any  similar  period  of  Queen  Victoria's. 
He  had  "  a  heart  to  resolve,  a  head  to  contrive,  and 
a  hand  to  execute."  2  These  qualities  were  ripen- 
ing from  his  early  manhood,  so  that  when  he  at 
length  ascended  the  throne  he  was  fully  equipped 
for  the  discharge  of  his  functions.  This  was  a  sur- 
prise to  most  people,  even  to  many  whose  intimacy 
with  him  had  been  closest  and  longest.  He  was 
so  smooth-spoken,  so  urbane,  so  mild  that  com- 
paratively few  suspected  the  firmness  which  was 
within  him.  Because  he  did  not  "rattle  the  sabre," 
or  preach  about  the  Heaven-sent  glories  of  "  my 
great  ancestors,"  it  was  often  predicted  of  him  that 
he  would  be  a  roi  faineant,  a  slothful  king,  lacking 
high  ideals.  These  predictions,  made  at  random, 
were  falsified.  Blustering  he  left  to  others  ;  but 
he  could  be  as  firm  as  a  rock.  He  was  "  wax  to 
receive  and  marble  to  retain."  He  wielded  a 
sceptre  even  more  potent  than  Agamemnon's,  forged 
by  Vulcan.  "  Whatever  record  leaps  to  light,  he 
never  will  be  shamed." 

1  Mr.  Gladstone  (1864). 

2  "  Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire." 


KING  EDWARD'S  ATTRIBUTES  7 

Although  this  country  is  Protestant  to  the 
backbone,  and  as  a  consequence  our  people  are  not 
given  to  bending  the  knee  before  the  emblems  of 
the  Old  Faith  still  to  be  seen  in  our  cathedrals 
and  parish  churches,  they  are  ardent  worshippers 
of  the  marble  and  bronze  figures  of  national  heroes 
and  Sovereigns  whose  lives  and  achievements  are 
writ  large  in  history.  And  when  some  iconoclast 
with  his  hammer  approaches  these  revered  forms, 
chipping  off  a  piece  here  and  a  piece  there,  and  so 
outraging  the  mighty  dead,  we  resent  the  deed. 

In  the  years  that  are  as  yesterday  the  People 
set  up  an  Image  of  one  whom  the  Empire  had  agreed 
to  honour  in  death  as  they  had  honoured  and  obeyed 
him  in  life.  The  image  -  breaker  came.  The 
People  were  told  that  they  had  been  worshipping  a 
false  god  ;  and  some  believed,  but  many  did  not 
believe,  the  cruel  words  written  by  one  who  had 
been 

Spared  to  lift  his  hand  against  the  King 
Who  made  him  Knight. 

Cavour,  the  man  who  freed  Italy,  relates  that 
Victor  Emmanuel  n.  said  to  that  other  eminent 
statesman,  D'Azeglio  :  "  Am  I  to  play  the  honest 
King  ?  This  seems  to  me  an  easy  business."  And 
thereafter  the  nickname,  "  Re  Galantuomo  " — 
"  King  Honest-Fellow,"  or  "The  King  who  keeps 
his  word  " — stuck  to  him.1  Edward  vn.  not  only 
earned  the  title  "  The  Peacemaker,"  of  which  the 
dyspeptic  "  Dictionary  "  would  rob  him,  but  of 

1  "  The  Life  and  Times  of  Cavour,"  1912. 


8  MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

"  King  Honest-Fellow."  Did  not  he  also  "  keep 
his  word  "  and  "  play  the  honest  King  "  ?  But  he 
may  not  always  have  found  it  an  "  easy  business," 
or,  as  Alfonso  xn.  is  credited  with  saying  of  the 
kingly  "  trade  "  generally,  "  devilish  well  paid  " — 
rather  the  contrary. 

What  is  a  King?     A  man  condemned  to  bear 
The  public  burthen  of  a  nation's  care.1 

The  Prince,  as  his  mother's  deputy,  earned  the 
grateful  thanks  of  the  nation  by  forwarding  every 
movement  for  the  amelioration  of  the  condition  of 
the  poor  and  by  the  earnestness  and  thoroughness 
with  which  he  discharged  the  manifold  tasks  im- 
posed upon  him  ;  while  he  gave  ample  proof  that 
he  possessed  those  qualities  which  a  people  look  for 
in  their  rulers.  Save  for  an  occasional  journey  to 
the  Continent — often  as  much  on  business  as  on 
pleasure  ;  sometimes  on  the  saddest  of  errands- 
supplemented  by  the  necessary  breathing-time  at 
Sandringham,  varied  by  a  visit  here  and  there  to 
friends  in  the  country,  the  Prince  devoted  the  greater 
part  of  his  time  to  the  delegated  discharge  of  those 
public  duties  which  crowded  ever  thicker  and  faster 
upon  him.  Withal  he  managed  to  be  seen  in  the 
Row  at  the  modish  hour  ;  often,  too,  with  a  cigar, 
an  innovation  of  his  own  making,  for  in  the  seventies 
who  save  he  would  have  dared  to  profane  with 
tobacco-smoke  the  Route  du  Roi,  vulgarised  into 
"Rotten"  Row? 

Nor  was  H.R.H.  a  stranger  at  the  play,  where  he 

1  Prior,  "  Solomon." 


KING  EDWARD'S  ATTRIBUTES  9 

enjoyed  himself  more  than  anybody  else,  laughed 
louder  and  applauded  more  heartily.  After  dinner 
you  saw  the  Royal  brougham,  followed  by  a  cab 
containing  a  couple  of  the  suite,  now  pelting  along 
Piccadilly  and  setting  down  at  Princes  Hall,  where  a 
private  view  was  "  on " ;  later,  taking  the  Prince 
in  the  direction  of  Covent  Garden  ;  for  he  lived 
every  moment  of  his  life,  and  seldom  indulged  in 
that  after-dinner  nap  which  many  less  busy  men 
are  constrained  to  take.  In  the  morning,  business 
permitting,  he  made  a  call  here  and  there  on  some 
favoured  person,  or  some  invalid  ;  he  took  a  special 
pleasure  in  looking-in  upon  sick  friends.  Were 
Sandown  on,  you  were  perfectly  safe  in  betting 
Verena  a  pair  of  gloves  that  H.R.H.  would  be  there, 
enjoying  himself  and  causing  enjoyment  to  others. 
Needless  to  catalogue  the  Royal  movements,  for  was 
not  the  Prince  everywhere?  Even  Sunday  brought 
with  it  little  surcease  from  the  endless  round  of 
duty,  business,  or  pleasure — the  last  often  the 
most  fatiguing  of  all. 

No  man  was  more  written  and  talked  about ; 
no  man's  actions  and  conduct  were  discussed 
with  more  freedom ;  no  one  received  so  much 
censure  and  so  much  praise.  To  do  the  Prince 
justice,  this  grand  persifleur  took  both  with 
equanimity,  conscious  that  he  was  doing  his  best 
in  the  station  in  which  he  was  born.  The  applause 
of  the  multitude  or  of  "  society  "  did  not  unduly 
puff  him  up  ;  the  abuse  of  the  vulgar  did  not 
depress  him  —  until  1891.  Happily,  the  rough 
wear-and-tear  of  life  had  not  set  its  ineffaceable 


10         MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

seal  upon  him.  He  looked  better  fitted  than  ever 
to  cope  with  those  little  worries  and  troubles  of 
which  the  world  outside  the  Palace  heard  nothing, 
suspected  nothing,  it  might  almost  be  said  cared 
nothing.  With  each  succeeding  year  the  Queen 
appreciated  more  fully  the  help  accorded  to  her  so 
dutifully  and  loyally  by  her  son ;  and  when,  as 
often  happened,  he  was  the  representative  of  a 
Throne  in  mourning,  he  was  a  still  more  prominent 
figure,  exercising  greater  power,  making  his  influ- 
ence more  generally  and  more  widely  felt,  and  in- 
spiring a  deeper  confidence  and  affection  among 
the  peoples  over  whom  he  was  destined  to  rule. 

In  the  comparisons  made  between  Queen 
Victoria  and  her  elder  son  from  1861  down  to  1900 
truth  compels  me  to  say  that  it  was  the  Royal 
Lady  who  suffered — often  more  than  she  deserved, 
for  there  was  much  to  be  said  on  her  side.  It 
was  written  of  the  Prince,  for  example  : 

Although  jealously  debarred  by  his  queenly 
mother  from  any  active  share  in  the  government 
of  the  nation,  he  wields  a  sovereignty  of  his  own 
creation  which  is  far  more  powerful  and  auto- 
cratic than  hers.  For  its  character  is  of  a  social 
nature,  and  he  is  able  to  decree  either  the  social 
success  or  the  social  death  of  any  one  that  may 
attract  his  notice.  A  few  quiet  hints  as  to  the 
fact  that  he  objects  to  some  particular  individual 
are  sufficient  to  cause  social  ostracism,  whereas 
a  word  of  commendation  from  his  lips  is  all  that 
is  needed  to  become  a  leader  of  society.  It  is  he 
alone  who  has  made  the  social  position  of  the 
Rothschilds  in  London. 


KING  EDWARD'S  ATTRIBUTES         11 

Another  case  was  cited  to  show  the  Prince's 
social  power,  "  an  autocracy  which,  all  things 
considered,  has  been  of  a  beneficent  and  fortunate 
nature."  Some  may  think  these  observations  a 
little  strained,  but  they  are  not  very  wide  of  the 
mark.  However,  "  the  Rothschilds "  are  emin- 
ently worthy  of  the  commanding  position  which 
they  have  so  long  occupied  ;  any  Monarch  would 
be  proud  of  them  as  subjects  ;  the  pity  is  that 
there  are  not  more  of  them. 

But  for  the  opposition  of  Lord  Salisbury  (says 
M.  Aubry),1  the  reign  of  Edward  vn.  would  have 
begun  four  years  earlier.  At  the  beginning  of 
1897  Queen  Victoria,  feeling  her  strength  declining, 
weary  of  the  burden  of  those  duties  for  which  she 
had  never  had  much  inclination,  thought  of 
abdicating  and  ending  her  days  in  retirement. 
She  thus  gave  another  instance  of  the  conscious- 
ness which  she  possessed  of  her  responsibilities. 
Unfortunately  for  her  glory,  her  Ministers,  and 
notably  Lord  Salisbury,  energetically  opposed 
her  desire.  The  reasons  which  they  adduced  in 
support  of  their  views  were,  however,  specious 
ones.  There  were,  they  declared,  no  precedents 
for  such  a  course.  Our  history  had  not  produced 
one  single  case  of  the  voluntary  abdication  of  a 
Sovereign.  In  Europe,  not  reckoning  Sylla's 
abdication  of  the  Dictatorship  of  Rome  and 
Diocletian's  abdication  of  the  Imperial  throne, 
there  have  been  only  four  voluntary  abdications  : 
those  of  Charles  Quint  of  Spain  (1555),  of  Christian 
of  Sweden  (1654),  of  Philip  v.  of  Spain  (1724), 

1  For  taking  umbrage  at  a  Deputy's  remarks  deprecatory  of 
M.  Poincare  in  November  1912,  M.  Aubry  had  to  exchange  harmless 
shots  with  the  Prime  Minister's  detractor. 


12         MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

and  of  Louis  Bonaparte  of  Holland  (1810).  This 
being  so,  Parliament  (said  Ministers)  would  not 
consent  to  ratify  Queen  Victoria's  abdication. 
This  was  one  reason  ;  the  other  was  more  tangible, 
but  equally  futile.  Upon  ascending  the  throne 
the  Queen  had  consented  to  relinquish  the  here- 
ditary revenues  of  the  Crown,  which  her  pre- 
decessors had  enjoyed,  on  condition  that  the 
nation  provided  her  with  an  annual  Civil  List. 
At  first  (in  1837)  this  was  a  good  arrangement 
for  the  country,  but,  in  course  of  time,  it  proved 
the  reverse  of  beneficial,  inasmuch  as  the  Civil 
List  considerably  exceeded  the  Crown  revenues. 
As  Queen  Victoria  entered  into  this  arrangement 
only  for  herself,  leaving  it  to  her  successor's 
choice  to  continue  it  or  not,  it  was  contended  by 
Ministers  in  1897  that  Her  Majesty's  abdication 
would  have  the  effect  of  raising  grave  questions 
in  Parliament.  The  Queen  acted  on  the  advice 
of  her  Ministers,  but  wras  grieved  at  finding  herself 
once  more  the  victim  of  the  Constitution,  and 
the  nation  learnt  that  Her  Majesty  had  entered 
upon  the  seventh  decade  of  her  reign  with  the 
firm  intention  of  dying  Queen.  So  Ministers 
triumphed.  Their  real  reason  for  acting  as  they 
did  was  that  they  wished  to  retain  that  freedom 
of  action  which  they  enjoyed  under  the  late 
Queen,  with  whom  they  could  take  things  easily. 
It  is  probable  that  with  the  advent  of  Edward  vn. 
they  will  find  things  different. 

Events  did  not,  perhaps,  altogether  belie 
that  prophecy  ;  for  "  The  Strong  Man  of  Marl- 
borough  House "  became  "  The  Strong  Man  of 
Buckingham  Palace." 

Generosity  of  spirit  and  a  will  strong  as  iron 


KING  EDWARD'S  ATTRIBUTES         13 

were  the  predominant  attributes  of  King  Edward, 
and  these  I  will  endeavour  to  illustrate  by  examples 
which  will  reveal  him  in  the  light  familiar  to  his 
legion  of  friends  and  acquaintances  and  totally 
unfamiliar  to  his  critics.  I  will  speak  first  of  his 
generosity,  as  exemplified  by  one  of  those  surviving 
friends  of  old  who  was  in  immediate  touch  with  him 
longer,  with  perhaps  two  exceptions,  than  any 
others  still  among  us. 

"  During  all  the  years  I  was  with  our  dear 
King  Edward,"  said  this  personage,  immediately 
after  the  great  calamity  of  May  6,  1910,  "  I 
naturally  made  many  mistakes.  I  remember — I 
cannot  forget — my  Royal  master  saying  to  me, 
6  Well,  don't  worry  over  it  now.  But  don't  do  it 
again.'  " 

This  was  the  !t  soft  answer  which  turneth 
away  wrath,"  and  fully  served  its  purpose. 

Moodiness  was  alien  to  the  King's  nature — his 
temperament  was  far  otherwise  ;  yet  he  was  a 
man  of  moods,  oftenest  when  in  the  Palace  solus 
cum  solo  ;  "  alone  by  himself  "  he  was  occasionally 
distrait.  But  when  he  was  opposed,  when  he 
was  more  than  ordinarily  vexed,  the  inflexible 
will-power  asserted  itself.  "  Le  Roy  le  veult !  " 
It  was  the  end  of  it — the  ukase  of  the  Autocrat, 
an  amalgam  of  Caesar  and  Charlemagne. 

Not  only  was  the  King  well  versed  in  the 
intricacies  of  international  and  constitutional  law, 
which  could  be  explained  to  him  when  necessary 
by  his  attached  friend  Lord  James  of  Hereford, 
often  his  host  at  "  shoots,"  but  he  had  a  fair 


14         MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

knowledge  of  our  civil  and  criminal  procedure. 
Did  he  not  honour  with  his  intimacy  the  late 
Sir  George  Lewis,  and  was  not  Sir  Henry  White 
his  solicitor  ?  This  triumvirate  could  "  coach  5! 
him  on  all  those  legal  points  with  which  he  was 
not  seldom  confronted.  Sir  George  Lewis,  who 
saw  what  others  overlooked  or  were  too  obtuse 
to  see,  is  credited  with  many  amusing  sayings  ; 
e.g.  (at  a  "  strawberry  crush  ?:  at  Marlborough 
House)  :  "  Some  of  these  people  would  be  in 
solitary  confinement  if  they  had  their  deserts  !  ': 
This,  if  not  true,  is  certainly  "  well  invented." 

People  who  saw  very  little  of  the  Royalties 
except  at  the  annual  garden-party  in  Pall  Mall 
received  an  enviable  social  cachet  by  the  publica- 
tion of  their  names  in  the  "  Morning  Post."  To 
have  passed  through  the  gates  and  on  to  the 
lawns,  to  have  quaffed  champagne  cup  and  "  taken 
tea "  while  the  Prince  and  Princess  looked 
smilingly  on — it  was  "  the  time  of  their  lives," 
never  to  be  forgotten.  One  year — in  1890 — the 
guests  had  the  further  felicity  of  bowing  and 
curtseying  to  Queen  Victoria  ;  and  some  of  them 
— those  who  edged  closest  to  the  tent  erected  for 
Her  Majesty — were  able  to  assure  their  friends 
that  they  had  seen  the  Prince  of  Wales  actually 
run  to  meet  his  mother  and  lead  her  to  her  tent. 
It  is  true  that  the  most  affectionate  of  mothers 
had  in  her  "  Bertie "  the  most  devoted  and 
respectful  of  sons,  let  others  say  what  they  will  to 
the  contrary. 

Englishmen  were  gratified  at  the  election  as 


KING  EDWARD'S  ATTRIBUTES         15 

President  of  the  French  Republic  of  M.  Poincare, 
who  is  to  be  credited  with  the  delivery  of  one  of 
the  finest  eulogiums  of  King  Edward  vn.  ever 
spoken  or  written.  At  the  unveiling  of  the  King's 
statue  at  Cannes,  on  April  13,  1912,  the  eminent 
man  who  is  now  President,  and  whom  we  feted 
in  June  1913,  depicted  Edward  vn.  as  Prince  and 
as  King  in  an  address  which  evoked  the  praise 
of  our  Press  and  the  gratitude  of  our  people. 
That  speech  was  more  than  a  spirited  eulogy  of 
our  great  Sovereign — it  was  a  vindication  of  his 
gifts  and  talents,  as  displayed  in  everything  to 
which  he  put  his  hand,  and  devoted  his  active 
brain  and  tireless  energy,  on  behalf  of  the  Empire  : 

When,  at  the  age  of  sixty  (said  M.  Poincare), 
he  ascended  the  throne,  all  his  accumulated  stock 
of  foresight,  of  wisdom,  and  of  cleverness  blossomed 
into  brilliant  political  qualities.  Having  been 
gradually  initiated  into  the  mysteries  of  Chancel- 
leries and  the  ways  of  Courts,  he  knew  better 
than  any  one  else  in  England,  or  abroad,  the 
character  of  individuals,  the  mind  of  rulers,  the 
feelings  of  the  governed.  He  knew  the  strong 
and  the  weak  points,  the  ostensible  and  the  real 
character  of  every  man  and  of  every  thing.  He 
was  acquainted  with  the  financial,  military,  and 
naval  resources  of  all  the  nations  of  Europe.  .  .  . 
He  did  not  violently  snatch  England  out  of  the 
splendid  isolation  in  which  she  had  enveloped 
herself.  Methodically  and  circumspectly  he  pre- 
pared the  way  for  the  necessary  evolution  ;  with 
moderate  and  gentle  pressure  he  touched  the 
helm  in  order  to  alter  the  course.  .  .  .  With  one 
swift  glance,  Edward  vn.  calculated  the  work 


16         MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

to  be  done.  .  .  .  We  cannot  forget  that  it  was 
Edward  vn.  who  first  encouraged  the  friendly 
co-operation  between  France  and  England.  .  .  . 
He  did  try  to  do  his  duty,  and  he  entirely  succeeded. 
Happy  are  the  Heads  of  States,  and  happy  the 
citizens,  whose  praise  is  established  in  these 
simple  words  ! 

This  fervent  and  honest  tribute,  paid  in  all 
sincerity  by  the  new  President  of  the  Republic 
to  the  dead  King,  forms  a  striking  contrast  to 
the  deliberate  slights  which  have  aroused  the 
indignation  of  all  true  friends  of  Edward  the  Great 
and  of  all  true  loyalists  throughout  the  Empire. 

Yet  stab  at  thee  who  will, 
No  stab  the  soul  can  kill.1 

Sir  Francis  Bertie  was  equally  happy  in  his 
remarks.  When  our  National  Anthem  had  been 
played  our  Ambassador  said  : 

The  King,  my  august  Sovereign,  is  most 
grateful  for  the  generous  sentiments  of  respect 
for  the  memory  of  his  father  which  inspired  those 
to  whom  the  erection  of  this  statue  of  the  Prince 
of  Wales  that  we  have  just  inaugurated  is  due. 
For  it  was  as  Prince  of  Wales  that  King  Edward 
knew  and  loved  Cannes,  and  that  Cannes  knew  and 
appreciated  him.  It  was  in  consequence  of  the 
frequent  visits  which  the  King  paid  to  different 
parts  of  France  that  His  Majesty  was  able  to 
appreciate  the  sentiments  of  the  French  people 
and  to  see  the  opportunity  of  establishing  between 
the  two  neighbouring  countries  relations  of  true 

1  Sir  John  Davis,  "  The  Soul's  Errand." 


KING  EDWARD'S  ATTRIBUTES         17 

and  cordial  friendship.  The  desire  of  King 
Edward  was  completely  realised ;  the  presence 
of  the  Prime  Minister  and  the  association  of 
British  and  French  sailors  at  the  unveiling  of  the 
statue  of  the  Prince  of  Wales  at  Cannes,  as  well 
as  yesterday's  ceremony  at  Nice,  furnish  happy 
evidence  of  that  fact.  My  Sovereign  highly 
appreciates  these  manifestations.  Queen  Alex- 
andra, profoundly  touched  by  the  respect  shown 
for  her  beloved  husband,  requests  me  to  express 
her  grateful  acknowledgments.  I  am  happy  to 
be  the  interpreter  of  the  feelings  of  their  Majesties. 
I  am  likewise  happy  to  have  the  opportunity  of 
expressing  in  my  owrn  name  to  the  eminent  sculptor 
to  whom  we  owe  this  statue  my  sincere  con- 
gratulations, and  to  express  the  hope  that  this 
monument  will  contribute  to  perpetuate  in  the 
recollections  of  the  inhabitants  of  Cannes  the 
memory  of  a  Prince  who  counted  the  hours  that 
he  spent  in  the  midst  of  them  as  among  his 
happiest  moments  of  rest. 

Among  King  Edward's  gifts  was  the  expression 
of  the  mot  juste — choosing  the  right  word  and 
putting  it  in  the  right  place.  In  this  he  was  an 
adept.  "  I  hope,  with  you  (the  Mayor),  that 
this  ceremony  may  be  a  fresh  pledge  of  cordial 
relations  between  France  and  Great  Britain." 
These  words,  spoken  at  Cannes  by  the  Prince  of 
Wales  when  he  had  laid  the  first  stone  of  the  new 
jetty  (March  10 — the  anniversary  of  his  marriage — 
1898),  were  forerunners  of  the  entente  to  the 
conclusion  of  which  he  later  so  largely  contributed. 
'  You  know,"  he  said,  "  what  pleasure  it  gives 
me  to  spend  a  few  weeks  in  your  beautiful  country, 


18         MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

where  I  always  meet  with  a  hospitable  reception. 
I  desire  to  tell  you  especially  how  touched  I  was  at 
your  having  thought  of  giving  the  jetty  my  name." 
Never  did  Edward  vn.  more  strikingly  reveal 
his  talents  as  a  world's  Peacemaker  (a  title  which, 
it  has  been  asserted,  was  only  t(  symbolically 
just ")  *  than  when,  two  years  before  he  was 
taken  from  us,  he  and  Queen  Alexandra  visited 
the  Tsar  and  Tsaritsa  at  Reval  (June  1908).  Of 
the  party  also  was  the  Dowager  Empress,  Queen 
Alexandra's  sister  Dagmar,  who,  as  Comte 
d'Haussonville  has  told  us,2  was  a  factor  in  the 
Anglo-Russian  entente  sketched  out  years  ago 
by  King  Edward  and  the  Marquis  de  Breteuil. 
How  did  the  King  comport  himself  at  Reval  in 
1908 — an  epoch  in  our  history  ?  Dr.  Dillon 
records  it : 

King  Edward  is  not  only  in  high  spirits  himself, 
but  seems  endowed  with  the  precious  gift  of 
putting  in  equally  good  spirits  those  statesmen 
and  courtiers  with  whom  he  comes  in  contact. 
Yesterday  (June  10)  M.  Stolypin,  whom  he  had 
long  been  desirous  of  meeting,  was  presented  to  him, 
and  in  the  afternoon  the  Premier  and  the  Foreign 
Minister  went  aboard  the  yacht  "  Victoria  and 
Albert,"  where  they  were  received  in  audience 
by  the  King.  M.  Stolypin  had  a  long  talk  with 
His  Majesty,  who  literally  fascinated  him.  Not 
only  what  His  Majesty  said,  but  the  manner  in 
which  he  expressed  it,  bore  the  peculiar  impress 
of  an  artist  in  international  politics,  whom  Europe 

1  "  Dictionary  of  National  Biography." 

2  "  King  Edward  in  his  True  Colours." 


KING  EDWARD'S  ATTRIBUTES         19 

is  now  come  to  regard  as  the  first  statesman  of 
the  age.  Although  M.  Stolypin  reads  English 
with  ease  and  speaks  it  with  a  certain  fluency, 
the  language  spoken  by  the  British  Monarch 
and  the  Russian  Premier  was  French,  and,  accord- 
ing to  competent  Russians  who  have  now  for  the 
first  time  heard  His  Majesty  use  it,  King  Edward's 
mastery  of  the  French  language  is  remarkable. 
His  careful  choice  of  words  expressive  of  every 
shade  of  meaning,  words  which  yet  flow  unchecked, 
is  mentioned  with  admiration  by  all.  But  what 
most  particularly  and  agreeably  surprised  the 
Russian  Ministers  was  the  precise  knowledge  of 
Russian  political  parties  and  public  men  that 
underlay  the  remarks  of  the  King,  whose  familiarity 
with  international  relations  alone  presupposes  long 
and  continual  study. 

The  Foreign  Secretary,  M.  Izvolsky,  had  also 
a  long  audience  with  His  Majesty,  in  the  course 
of  wrhich  the  conversation  turned  on  a  variety  of 
topics,  chosen  mainly  from  the  political  domain. 
At  five  o'clock  the  audience  came  to  a  close,  as 
the  King  and  Queen  received  the  Tsar  and 
Tsaritsa,  who  came  to  tea,  and  remained  a  con- 
siderable time  on  the  yacht.  Meanwhile,  on 
board  the  cruiser  "  Almaz,"  Sir  Charles  Hardinge 
had  called  upon  M.  Izvolsky,  and  both  statesmen, 
plunging  at  once  in  medias  res,  were  soon  engaged 
in  a  thorough  discussion  of  the  sole  knotty  political 
problem  which  has  called  for  a  display  of  give-and- 
take  since  the  Convention  was  signed  last  year. 

At  dinner  both  Sovereigns  made  speeches.  King 
Edward,  addressing  the  Tsar,  said  : 

I  thank  your  Majesty  most  heartily,  on  behalf 
of  the  Queen  and  myself,  for  the  cordial  manner  in 
which  you  have  welcomed  us  in  the  waters  of  the 


20         MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

Baltic,  and  for  the  affectionate  words  in  which 
you  have  proposed  our  healths. 

I  have  the  happiest  recollections  of  the 
welcome  which  I  received  on  the  occasions  of 
my  previous  visits  to  Russia,  at  the  hands  of 
your  illustrious  grandfather,  your  beloved  father, 
and  yourself,  and  it  is  a  source  of  the  sincerest 
gratification  to  me  to  have  this  opportunity  of 
meeting  your  Majesties  again. 

I  most  heartily  endorse  every  word  that  fell 
from  your  Majesty's  lips  with  regard  to  the  Con- 
vention recently  concluded  between  our  two 
Governments. 

I  believe  it  will  serve  to  knit  more  closely  the 
bonds  that  unite  the  people  of  our  two  countries, 
and  I  am  certain  that  it  will  conduce  to  the  satis- 
factory settlement  in  an  amicable  manner  of  some 
momentous  questions  in  the  future. 

I  am  convinced  that  it  will  not  only  tend  to 
draw  our  two  countries  more  closely  together,  but 
will  help  very  greatly  towards  the  maintenance 
of  the  general  peace  of  the  world. 

I  hope  this  meeting  may  be  followed  before  long 
by  another  opportunity  of  meeting  your  Majesties. 

I  drink  to  the  health  of  your  Majesties,  to  that 
of  the  Empress  Marie  Feodorovna,  and  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Imperial  family,  and,  above  all,  to  the 
welfare  and  prosperity  of  your  great  Empire. 

His  Majesty's  reply  was  absolutely  extempore, 
and  as  none  of  the  distinguished  guests  jotted 
down  the  words  spoken  or  could  recall  them 
exactly,  and  as  the  Russian  translation  had  also 
to  be  made,  considerable  delay  ensued  in  distri- 
buting the  text  of  King  Edward's  speech.1 

1  "  Daily  Telegraph,"  June  n,  1908. 


KING  EDWARD'S  ATTRIBUTES         21 

Refutations  of  the  Dictionary's  slighting  refer- 
ences to  King  Edward  are  "  plenty  as  blackberries." 
One  may  well  ask,  with  Bacon  :  "  How  can  a 
man  comprehend  great  matters  that  breaketh 
his  minde  too  much  to  small  observations  ?  " 

Writing  on  the  entente  cordiale  in  May  1910, 
General  Zurlinden,  a  former  French  W^ar  Minister, 
said  :  "  This  entente,  for  which  Sovereigns  of  France 
like  Louis-Philippe  and  Napoleon  in.  had  worked, 
is  now  realised,  and  it  is  due  to  the  high,  persever- 
ing, and  intelligent  intervention  of  the  great 
Sovereign  whom  England  has  just  lost,  and  whom 
we  mourn  so  deeply  with  her." 

WTiat  is  the  testimony  of  Baron  de  Courcel, 
well  remembered  as  French  Ambassador  in  London? 
He  said  immediately  after  the  King's  death  : 

There  is  no  exaggeration  in  the  regret  so  un- 
animously manifested  by  the  French  at  this  mo- 
ment. From  his  youth  up  King  Edward  had 
a  very  pronounced  personal  sympathy  for  our 
country.  The  amiable  Prince,  so  full  of  life  and 
activity,  liked  our  expansive  manners  ;  he  shared 
our  sociable  habits,  and  his  friendship  was  faith- 
ful. Scarcely  had  he  succeeded  Queen  Victoria 
when  he  made  his  beneficent  influence  felt.  His 
experience  of  the  world  and  of  the  realities  of  life, 
his  natural  spirit  of  observation  and  conciliation, 
his  personal  charm,  associated  with  a  precise  senti- 
ment of  practical  interests,  soon  assured  him  con- 
siderable authority  in  England  and  in  Europe. 
Every  one  felt  that  he  had  to  be  reckoned  with, 
and  also  that  his  power  would  be  exercised  in 
favour  of  ideas  of  peace  and  of  mutual  toleration. 
In  a  nation  agitated  by  party  strife,  in  a  Europe 


22         MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

disturbed  by  the  survival  of  cruel  resentment, 
he  was  truly  the  King  of  Peace.  His  death  throws 
into  mourning  the  diplomacy  of  every  country, 
which  saw  in  him  an  eminent  master. 


And  Dr.  C.  Sarolea,  in  his  remarkable  work, 
"The  Anglo-German  Problem,"1  writes,  a  propros 
of  aggressive  Imperialism  : 

There  are  other  causes  which  have  contributed 
even  more  efficiently  to  produce  the  pacific  temper 
of  the  English  people.  Both  the  Transvaal  war 
and  the  Russo-Japanese  War,  with  the  frightful 
sacrifices  they  entailed,  have  had  a  sobering  effect 
on  the  national  mind,  and  have  laid  bare  the 
dangers  of  aggressive  Imperialism.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  remarkable  results  achieved  by  the  diplo- 
macy of  King  Edward  have  brought  home  the  con- 
viction that  in  the  promotion  of  national  interests 
more  can  be  achieved  by  tact  and  sympathy  than 
by  brute  force. 

In  my  previous  volume" will  be  found  the  accu- 
mulated tributes  of  great  men  and  great  journals 
to  the  memory  of  Edward  vn.  They  come  from 
all  parts  of  the  world.  And,  if  you  would  fully 
realise  the  heinousness  of  the  Dictionary's  offence— 
that  of  reducing  the  King  almost  to  nothingness 
— compare  its  Memoir  with  these  noble  words  of  a 
gifted  Frenchman,  whose  name  should  be  held  in 
honour  throughout  the  British  Empire  for  his 
eloquent  portraiture  of  the  Sovereign  whom  we 
mourn  : 

1  Thomas  Nelson  &  Sons,  1912. 


, 


KING  EDWARD'S  ATTRIBUTES         23 

In  January  1901  Queen  Victoria  finished  one 
of  the  greatest  reigns,  perhaps  the  greatest  reign 
in  English  history.  In  May  1910  there  disappeared 
with  King  Edward  the  greatest  King  England  has 
had  since  Elizabeth.  British  opinion  did  not 
deceive  itself.  The  same  honours  rendered  to  the 
remains  of  both  Sovereigns  marked  the  difference 
in  the  national  sympathy.  As  regards  the  regula- 
tion panegyrics  and  the  traditional  pomps,  how 
much  more  eloquent  were  the  unanimous  satis- 
f ecits,  and  the  civic  wreaths,  and  the  sincere  regrets 
accorded  by  this  business  people  to  this  business 
King,  who,  entering  in  1901  upon  the  manage- 
ment of  a  firm  which  had  been  slightly  shaken, 
knew,  in  his  ten  years  of  control,  how  to  gain  for 
it  more  credit  and  more  world-influence  than  it 
had  ever  possessed  before. 

His  diplomatic  work  was  the  great  achievement 
of  his  Royal  life.  After  the  interview  of  the 
King  and  the  Tsar  at  Reval  in  1908  I  explained 
the  debuts  and  the  developments  of  that  Royal 
work.  We  see  the  greatness  of  it  better  now, 
being  able  to  compare  its  beginning  and  its 
ending.  The  England  of  1901  was  paralysed, 
discredited,  and,  still  more,  demoralised  by  the 
war  in  the  Transvaal ;  exposed  by  the  military 
destitution  of  its  Island  and  of  its  Indies  to  the 
objurgations  of  Europe,  given  over  by  the  defeat 
and  odium  of  that  unequal  war  to  the  world's 
mockery  and  indignation,  given  over  more  especi- 
ally to  the  unreasonable  demands  of  Berlin, 
which,  from  1898  to  1901,  obtained  a  series  of 
public  or  secret  understandings,  all  prejudicial 
to  British  commerce  and  prestige,  all  favourable 
to  the  expansion  of  German  industry,  German 
maritime  power,  and  German  influence  in  China, 
Africa,  and  Turkey  The  England  of  1910  was 


24         MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

restored  to  the  front  rank  of  nations  less  by  the 
prestige  of  victory  and  the  value  of  its  armaments 
than  by  the  number  and  solidity  of  its  alliances  ; 
served  in  Europe  by  the  cordial  devotion  of  the 
four  Latin  nations,  France,  Italy,  Spain,  and 
Portugal ;  served  in  the  Levant  and  in  the  Middle- 
East  by  the  collaboration  of  Russia,  in  the  Far 
East  by  Japan  ;  everywhere  dreaded,  esteemed, 
or  loved — yes,  loved,  a  sentiment  which  for 
centuries  John  Bull  has  inspired  only  among 
his  near  relations  across  the  ocean  or  even  in  his 
own  colonies  ;  while  from  Germany,  in  a  circle  of 
relations,  London  has  obtained  friendship  only 
by  loyal  contracts  and  reciprocal  concessions  after 
the  exchange  of  public  words  and  mutual  services. 

Such,  in  the  reign  of  Edward  vn.,  is  the  personal 
work  of  the  King.  Without  speaking  of  Sovereigns 
that  a  Richelieu  or  a  Bismarck  reduced  to  the  role 
of  actors  in  a  piece  conceived  and  managed  by 
another,  there  are  Victor  Emmanuels  who  would 
have  done  nothing  great  without  the  mind  of  a 
Cavour  and  the  arm  of  a  Garibaldi,  and  French 
who  have  gained  nothing  but  through  the  cunning 
of  a  Metternich.  .  .  . 

Continuously,  without  blows,  without  decrees, 
Edward  vn.  did  between  1901  and  1908  that 
which  from  the  first  he  had  determined  to  do, 
that  wilich,  in  the  England  of  1901,  he  alone 
believed  possible  and  desirable,  deeming  it  necessary, 
that  which  on  the  Continent  in  1901  only  one 
woman  and  two  great  Frenchmen  desired  or 
dared  to  foresee  :  the  woman  is  the  Dowager 
Empress  of  Russia — the  men  are  the  then  French 
Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs  and  the  French  Am- 
bassador at  Rome.  If  ever  our  great-nephews 
dream  of  glorifying  the  authors  of  these  results 
of  the  Triple  Entente  it  is  the  names  of  Marie 


KING  EDWARD'S  ATTRIBUTES         25 

Feodorovna,  of  Paul  Cambon,  of  Theophile  Del- 
casse,  and  of  Camille  Barrere  that  they  will 
have  to  engrave  under  that  of  Edward  vn.  The 
Triple  Entente  had  other  helpers  in  the  first  and 
in  the  second  hour,  it  had  a  knot  of  labourers 
at  the  twelfth  hour,  but  that  Entente  would 
still  have  been  in  the  realm  of  impossibilities 
without  the  collaboration  of  those  five  statesmen, 
and  whatever  may  have  been  the  work  and  the 
tenacious  energy  of  the  other  four  it  is  probable 
that  without  Edward  vn.  the  Entente  would  not 
have  passed  from  the  region  of  their  hopes  to  the 
adhesion  of  three  great  nations  and  the  sympathy 
of  others.1 

There  we  have  a  portrait  of  the  real  Edward 
vii.,  the  Monarch  we  know  him  to  have  been. 
Where  is  the  Englishman  who  will  have  the 
boldness  to  publicly  question  the  literal  accuracy 
of  M.  Berard's  eloquent  and  vivid  synopsis  of  the 
lif ework  of  our  great  departed  ?  Such  a  man  does 
not  breathe.  I  recall  those  words.  As  Randolph 
Churchill  "forgot  Goschen,"  so  I  forgot  Keir  Hardie. 
There  is  no  rule  without  an  exception. 

The  foundation  of  the  friendly  relations  between 
France  and  England,  developed  and  finally  cemented 
by  King  Edward,  was  laid  by  his  mother.  In  her 
frequent  visits  to  the  South  the  French,  whose 
emotions  are  so  easily  aroused,  saw  the  Queen's 
preference  for  their  country  over  other  lands  when 
she  was  in  quest  of  a  few  weeks'  repose.  Her 
continued  presence  among  them  flattered  their 
amour  propre.  Their  own  crowned  figure-heads 

1  M.  Victor  Berard,  "  La  Revue  de  Paris,"  1910 


26         MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

had  vanished  as  in  a  dream,  and  were  beyond  resur- 
rection. Queen  Victoria  became  endeared  to  them 
by  the  sheer  force  of  her  magnetic  personality. 
She  was  a  crowned  ruler,  but  how  delightfully 
democratic,  how  simple,  how  like  one  of  them- 
selves !  The  humble  folk  round  Cimiez,  Grasse, 
Mentone,  Cannes,  and  Hyeres  gaped  when  they 
heard  that  such  was  the  homeliness  of  their  guest 
that  she  brought  her  own  bed  with  her.  What 
domesticity  !  And  those  who  chanced  to  pass  her 
hotel  saw  her  promenading  in  the  grounds  in  her 
donkey-chaise  !  This  was  the  comble.  One  day 
the  Royal  carriage  overtakes  a  group  of  mourners 
on  their  way  to  the  cemetery.  The  coachman 
would  have  passed  rapidly  by.  "  No,  no,"  says 
the  Queen  ;  "  drive  slowly  behind  them."  Here 
was  a  Queen's  respect  for  the  dead,  indeed  !  Her 
bounty  to  the  very  poorest  was  so  lavish  that 
Xavier  Paoli,  "  Protector  of  Sovereigns,"  was 
moved  to  protest ;  but  he  could  not  prevent  the 
Queen  from  "  throwing  her  money  about." 

From  1870  until  1888  the  two  sons  of  Sove- 
reigns upon  whom  the  world's  gaze  was  most 
closely  and  continuously  fixed  were  the  Crown 
Prince  of  Germany  and  the  English  Heir-Ap- 
parent. In  the  characters  and  temperament  of 
the  brothers-in-law  there  was  a  general  similarity, 
while  both  had  a  strong  individuality.  For  his 
sister's  husband  our  Prince  had  a  strong  affection 
as  well  as  the  highest  admiration  for  the  soldier 
who  had  behaved  so  gallantly  in  the  two  campaigns 
of  1866  and  1870-1.  A  man  who  could  satisfy 


KING  EDWARD'S  ATTRIBUTES         27 

the  requirements  of  Queen  Victoria  and  her 
Consort  found  it  easy  to  win  the  respect  of  and 
"  get  on "  with  the  somewhat  more  expansive 
Prince  of  Wales.  Thus  there  was  never  anything 
approaching  friction  between  the  two  Princes. 
"  Unser  Fritz  "  was  the  most  magnanimous  and 
forgiving  of  men,  and,  despite  the  anti-Teuton 
outburst  of  a  section  of  our  Press,  led  by  the 
"  Times,"  when  his  engagement  to  Queen  Victoria's 
firstborn  was  made  known,  the  Prince  who  lives 
in  history  as  "  Frederick  the  Noble "  retained 
till  the  end  his  admiring  respect  for  this  country, 
our  people,  and  our  institutions.  Had  he  lived 
to  witness  the  rule  of  King  Edward,  it  is  safe  to 
assert  that  the  good  relations  between  the  two 
countries  would  never  have  been  impaired ;  never 
should  we  have  seen  that  crazy  and  mischievous 
armaments  struggle  which  has  equally  discredited 
England  and  Germany  in  the  eyes  of  the  world. 
With  the  aid  of  "  business "  Monarchs  such  as 
King  Edward  was  and  as  Kaiser  Frederick  would 
have  become  we  should  have  continued  to  "join 
hands  across  the  sea,"  while  the  bond  of  union 
would  have  been  cemented  by  the  eminently 
practical  and  conciliatory  "  wake-up  England " 
Sovereign  who  now  so  happily  rules  us. 

In  1887,  within  a  year  of  his  death,  the  Crown 
Prince  Frederick  William  rode  in  the  forefront 
of  the  Jubilee  procession  through  the  gaily- 
decorated  streets.  The  crowd,  often  so  supine, 
hailed  him  with  cheers  and  waving  of  hats  and 
handkerchiefs.  The  heroic  figure  in  that  White 


28         MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

Cuirassier  uniform  captured  the  imagination  of 
the  people.  With  curious  infelicity  "  the  lying 
jade,  Rumour,"  spread  it  about  that  the  Prince 
of  Wales  had  been  vexed  at  the  tribute  paid  to 
his  Imperial  brother-in-law,  and  the  calumny 
has  reappeared  at  intervals  between  1887  and 
1913.  It  has  never  been  contradicted.  I  now 
give  a  point-blank  denial  to  this  wholly  unjusti- 
fiable slur  upon  King  Edward,  who,  as  were  all 
the  members  of  his  family,  was  inexpressibly 
delighted  at  the  splendid  reception  accorded  to 
the  German  Crown  Prince. 

Frederick  the  Noble  and  Edward  the  Great 
equally  recognised  and  appreciated  the  importance 
of  the  Press.  Readers  of  my  previous  volume 
will  remember  the  good  service  done  to  the 
English  Press  by  the  Prince  of  Wales  at  St.  Peters- 
burg when,  in  1874,  he  insisted  upon  the  repre- 
sentatives of  our  newspapers  being  admitted  to 
the  Winter  Palace  to  chronicle  the  marriage  of 
the  Duke  of  Edinburgh  and  the  Grand  Duchess 
Marie.  Margaretha  von  Poschinger  *  tells  us  that 
"  the  Crown  Prince  was  well  aware  of  the  power 
of  the  Press,  and  always  treated  journalists  with 
great  cordiality.  It  created  some  sensation  when 
he  first  received  journalists  and  editors  of  the 
leading  newspapers  at  Potsdam.  At  official 
ceremonies  at  Berlin  he  was  often  seen  chatting 
with  a  group  of  journalists.  Once  at  some  great 

1  "  Life  of  the  Emperor  Frederick."  Based  upon  the  German  of 
Margaretha  von  Poschinger.  With  an  Introduction  by  Sidney  Whit- 
man. 


KING  EDWARD'S  ATTRIBUTES         29 

public  function  he  asked  the  representatives  of 
the  Press  whether  they  were  satisfied  with  the 
places  assigned  to  them.  Upon  receiving  a  reply 
in  the  negative  he  administered  a  severe  reprimand 
to  those  responsible  for  the  arrangements,  con- 
cluding with  the  words  :  "  These  gentlemen  are 
more  important  than  you  are,  for  if  they  did  not 
write  about  it  the  world  would  know  nothing  of 
what  is  going  on  here  to-day." 

As  King  Edward  was  a  lifelong  reader  of 
the  Radical  "  Reynolds's,"  so  his  brother-in-law 
at  Berlin  read  the  Radical  "  Volks-Zeitung." 
When  one  of  the  higher  Court  officials  wished  to 
replace  that  paper  by  one  of  a  more  moderate 
tendency,  the  Crown  Prince  would  not  allow  a 
change  to  be  made.  "  But,  your  Royal  Highness," 
said  the  functionary,  "it  is  a  regular  revolutionary 
paper."  "  Never  mind,  my  friend,"  answered 
the  Crown  Prince,  "  I  know  what  the  Government 
thinks  ;  I  want  to  know  what  other  people  think 
as  well."  And  as  Charlotte  "  went  on  cutting 
bread-and-butter,"  so  "  Unser  Fritz "  went  on 
reading  the  "  Volks-Zeitung." 

Something  more  than  conventional  grief  was 
displayed  by  the  Prince  of  Wales  when,  in  June 
1888,  like  the  other  near  relatives  of  the  House  of 
Hohenzollern,  he  took  his  final  farewell  of  the 
great  Dead  by  the  simple,  yet  deeply  touching, 
act  of  kissing  the  Kaiser's  coffin.  Indeed,  those 
whose  acquaintance  with  the  two  Princes  entitled 
them  to  speak  on  the  subject  agreed  that  there 
were  not  a  few  strong  points  of  similarity  in  their 


30         MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

characters.  Not  seldom  those  who  are  born  in 
the  purple,  and  so  are  accustomed  to  the  slavish 
homage  of  the  world,  exhibit  an  arrogance  and  a 
pride  which  go  far  to  deprive  them  of  the  real 
friendship  of  those  by  whom  they  are  surrounded  ; 
but  if  Edward  of  England  and  Frederick  of  Ger- 
many had  two  distinguishing  traits,  they  were 
simplicity  and  geniality.  Those  know  best  the 
entirely  unaffected  spirit  of  the  Emperor  Fred- 
erick who  saw  him  in  the  field.  Bonhomie 
was  the  rule  among  officers  and  men  alike  when 
they  were  fighting  "  fur  Gott  und  Vaterland  "  in 
Eighteen  Hundred  and  Seventy  ;  but  the  sunny 
good-nature  and  open-heart edness  of  "  Unser 
Fritz  "  did  much  to  lighten  the  labour  of  all  with 
whom  he  came  into  contact,  and  to  make  the 
hardships  and  miseries  of  war  more  endurable 
than  they  otherwise  would  have  been.  Without 
straining  the  parallel  too  far,  it  may  be  said  that 
the  home-life  always  possessed  a  great  charm  for 
our  King  and  for  his  brother-in-law.  From  the 
year  of  their  marriage  they  were  the  centres  of  a 
large  and  ever-widening  family  circle  ;  and  painters 
and  poets  portrayed  their  domestic  lives  in  so 
fascinating  a  light  that  the  whole  world  became 
familiar  with  the  hearths  of  the  two  Princes. 

King  Edward  had  a  predilection  for  the  family 
of  Napoleon  in.,  but  he  did  not  fail  to  remain  on 
the  most  friendly  footing  with  the  Orleanists,  and 
especially  with  the  Due  d'Aumale.  Between  the 
Prince  of  Wales  and  the  exiled  Orleanist  Prince 
there  were  many  points  of  similarity.  Both  were 


KING  EDWARD'S  ATTRIBUTES         31 

devoted  to  sport,  and  both — horresco  referens — 
were  students  of  books.  The  former  owner  of 
Wood  Norton  was  an  author  of  note,  and  could, 
and  I  am  sure  did,  "  coach  "  his  young  friend  as 
Napoleon  in.  had  done,  but  with  a  difference. 
Like  Kingsley,  the  Emperor  and  the  Due  d'Aumale 
taught  King  Edward  something  more  than 
"  dates,"  so  that,  while  Queen  Victoria's  son  was 
thoroughly  versed  in  his  own  country's  history, 
he  was  an  equal  "  dab  "  at  French  history,  and 
exceptionally  well  acquainted  with  that  of  other 
countries. 

All  the  "  nigglings  "  to  the  contrary  which 
were  published  in  1912  were  fictions,  and  I  have 
proved  them  to  be  so.  King  Edward  himself 
may  be  cited  in  corroboration  of  what  has  been 
now  related.  In  one  of  his  numerous  confidences 
with  Paoli,  His  Majesty  said :  "  You  see  the 
Due  d'Aumale  is  a  grand  seigneur  of  the  past — in 
our  days,  a  belated  grand  seigneur.  He  represents 
the  flower  of  that  French  politeness  which  is  so 
charming,  and  whenever  I  talk  to  him  I  seem 
to  be  taking  a  lesson  in  French  history,  so  vast 
is  his  knowledge,  so  accurate  is  his  memory." 

The  King  never  neglected  an  opportunity  of 
adding  to  his  store  of  information,  or  he  would 
not  have  stood  out  among  sovereigns  and  princes 
as  the  Admirable  Crichton  we  know  him  to  have 
been.  It  is  further  to  be  noted  that  during  his 
reign  no  one  ever  ventured  to  doubt  his  all-round 
attainments  and  capacity.  The  moment  he  is 
dead  the  "  belittlers  "  crawl  out  of  their  shells 


32         MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

and  relegate  him  to  the  arriere-plan — like  bandits 
who  have  been  lurking  in  ambush  for  their  prey. 
But,  to  change  the  simile,  the  literary  engineers 
have  been  "  hoist  with  their  own  petard."  And  now 
"  "Tis  the  sport  to  see  them  in  their  discomfiture." 

The  King's  perceptive  powers  are  exemplified 
in  what  he  said  to  the  "  detective  courier  "  about 
Gambetta  :  "  The  first  time  I  saw  him,"  observed 
King  Edward,  "  he  seemed  to  me  to  have  such  a 
common  look,  and  his  dress  was  so  negligent,  that 
I  thought,  '  Can  this  really  be  the  man  who 
exercised  an  irresistible  fascination  over  crowds  ?  ' 
Then  he  talked,  and  Gambetta  developed  his 
ideas  and  his  plans.  His  admirable  lucidity, 
the  breadth  of  his  views,  the  'taking  '  charm  of 
his  eloquence,  made  me  forget  the  deception 
which  his  appearance  had  produced.  In  my  turn 
I  was  carried  away,  as  were  the  others  present.  I 
saw  him  again  once  or  twice  before  his  death. 
I  regret  him.  He  was  a  great  politician  and  a 
marvellous  virtuose  de  la  parole." 

Edward  vn.,  who  could  be  sufficiently  ruse 
among  diplomatists  and  Continental  politicians, 
was  not,  we  see,  the  man  to  wrap  up  his  thoughts 
when  conversing  with  a  friend  ;  nor  did  he  fail 
to  "  own  up  "  when  he  made  a  mistake,  as  he 
certainly  had  momentarily  done  over  Gambetta. 
The  Tribune,  however,  was  not  always  heedless 
of  his  personal  appearance,  and  could  "  look  nice  " 
when  he  chose.  The  contrast  between  the  two 
men  was  all  the  greater  because  the  King  was 
tire  a  quatre  epingles — "  dressed  up  to  the  nines." 


CHAPTER    II 

KING  EDWARD'S  ATTRIBUTES — (continued) 

WE  can  obtain  still  further  and  abundant  know- 
ledge of  the  King  if  we  cast  off  the  trammels  of 
bias  and  take  careful  note  of  the  opinions  of 
others — our  foreign  friends  in  particular  ;  for  the 
true  history  of  a  man  is  largely  composed  of  shreds 
and  patches,  "  smeared  paper,"  as  Bismarck 
called  diplomatists'  despatches.  Of  "  smeared 
paper  "'  relating  to  Edward  vn.  as  Prince  and 
King  there  are  tons,  and  not  a  little  of  it  issued 
forth  from  the  printing  presses  of  the  "  Figaro," 
as  witness  this  birthday  tribute  (November  1891)  : 

Having  attained  his  fiftieth  year,  with  his 
round  face,  blue  eyes,  closely-cropped  grey  beard, 
and  a  head  from  which  most  of  the  naturaKcover- 
ing  has  disappeared,  the  Prince  of  Wales,  who  is 
invariably  attired  in  the  latest  fashion,  is  still 
the  king  of  elegance  in  his  country. 

It  is  sometimes  said  that  the  Prince  of  Wales' s 
life  is  too  free  ;  there  are  even  people  in  Paris 
who  pretend  that  they  have  witnessed  it.  It 
would  be  bad  taste  of  England  to  complain  of  it, 
and  only  a  few  Radical  journals  murmur  about  it, 
in  the  name  of  "  great  principles."  The  people, 
however,  have  more  good  sense,  and  flatter  them- 
selves that  the  Heir  to  the  Throne  has  all  the 


34         MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

political  qualities  of  his  ancestors,  if  not  of  his 
mother.  He  prepared  himself  quite  early  in  life 
for  his  metier  of  king,  for  hardly  had  he  completed 
his  classical  studies  than  he  began  to  make  long 
voyages.  ...  In  1878  he  displayed  much  activity 
in  making  our  great  Exhibition  a  success.  Do 
not  forget  that  this  is  an  answer  to  those  who 
pretend  that  the  Prince  is  our  enemy. 

The  Prince's  absence  from  the  Portsmouth 
fetes  was  much  commented  on  ;  and  Lord  Salis- 
bury being  also  absent,  it  was  to  the  Queen  that  we 
had  to  address  our  gratitude.  However,  public 
opinion  in  France  having  appeared  surprised, 
perhaps  even  froissee,  at  the  conduct  of  the 
Prince  of  Wales,  he  did  not  hesitate  to  write  a 
letter  excusing  himself.  In  that  communication 
he  said  that,  events  having  precipitated  them- 
selves at  the  last  hour,  he  had  disposed  in  advance 
of  his  time  in  order  to  make  a  cure  at  Homburg 
pour  combattre  Fobesite.  Let  us  be  just  :  the 
Prince  is  menaced  therewith,  even  attacked  by 
it,  at  an  age  when  it  still  has  some  chance  of 
developing. 

As  an  example  of  the  kindly  feeling  of  the 
French  Press  for  King  Edward  I  cite  this  inter- 
change of  messages  between  the  "  Echo  de  Paris," 
the  King,  and  Lord  Knollys.  These  gratifying 
New  Year  wishes  on  the  part  of  the  French  journal 
were  headed  "  Le  Roi  Edouard  vn.  et  les  souhaits 
de  '  FEcho  de  Paris  '  pour  Fentente  cordiale  et  le 
maintien  de  la  paix  dans  le  monde."  On  December 
31,  1906,  the  London  correspondent  of  the  paper 
telegraphed  : 

Selon  vos  desires  j'envoyai  hier  a  Sa  Majeste 


KING  EDWARD'S  ATTRIBUTES         35 

le  roi  Edouard  vn.  les  voeux  de  "1'Echo  de  Paris" 
par  le  telegramme  suivant  : 

A  SA  MAJEST^  LE  ROI  EDOUARD  vn.,  SANDRINGHAM 

Au  nom  de  "  1'Echo  de  Paris,"  j'ai  Fhonneur  de 
transmettre  a  Votre  Majeste  les  voeux  respectueux 
et  sinceres  qu'a  1'occasion  ae  la  nouvelle  annee 
les  directeurs  et  le  personnel  du  journal  forment 
pour  le  bonheur  de  Sa  Majeste  et  de  la  famille 
royale,  souhaitant  egalement  qu'au  cours  de  1'annee 
1907  1' entente  cordiale,  fortifiee  par  des  relations 
encore  plus  etroites  entre  les  peuples  de  la  Grande- 
Bretagne  et  de  la  France,  continue  a  contribuer 
au  maintien  de  la  paix  entre  les  nations. 

Daigne  Votre  Majeste  agreer  mes  tres  respec- 
tueux hommages.  DE  LAPRE. 


R&PONSE  DU  Roi  D'ANGLETERRE 
(envoyee  par  lord  Knollys,  secretaire  particulier 

du  roi) 

SANDRINGHAM,  31  decembre  1906, 
7  h.  10  du  soir. 

I  am  commanded  by  the  King  to  request  you 
to  thank  the  directors  and  staff  of  the  "  Echo  de 
Paris  "  for  the  telegram  which  they  directed  you 
to  send  to  His  Majesty  in  their  name  on  the 
occasion  of  the  New  Year.  The  King  greatly 
appreciates  their  good  wishes  towards  himself 
and  likewise  the  sentiments  which  they  express 
as  to  the  maintenance  of  the  warm  feelings  of 
friendship  which  exist  between  the  two  countries, 
and  which  His  Majesty  earnestly  trusts  may 
never  be  disturbed. 


36         MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

(Translation) 

D'ordre  du  roi,  je  vous  prie  de  remercier  les 
directeurs  et  le  personnel  de  "  1'Echo  de  Paris'5 
pour  le  telegramme  qu'ils  vous  ont  demande 
d'envoyer  a  Sa  Majeste  en  leur  nom  a  1'occasion 
de  la  Nouvelle  Annee.  Le  roi  apprecie  grandement 
leurs  bons  voeux  a  son  egard  et  aussi  les  senti- 
ments qu'ils  expriment  pour  le  maintien  des 
rapports  de  chaude  amitie  qui  existent  entre 
les  deux  pays  et  qui,  Sa  Majeste  en  a  la  ferme 
confiance,  ne  pourront  jamais  etre  troubles.— 
KNOLLYS. 

It  is  easy  to  understand  the  attraction  which,  as 
Prince  and  as  King,  Edward  vn.  always  presented 
to  Continental  authors,  who  gave  themselves 
abundant  latitude  when  sketching  him.  It  must 
be  admitted  that  many  of  these  foreign  chroniclers 
produced  word-portraits  of  the  Sovereign  at  once 
audacious  and  diverting,  although  here  and  there 
too  rich  in  their  colouring  to  please  all  palates. 
The  omniscient  and  mysterious  Vasili,  who  is 
supposed  to  have  been  one  of  several  shrewd 
litterateurs  content  to  sink  their  individuality 
for  the  common  benefit,  gave  a  more  minute 
analysis  of  King  Edward  before  his  accession 
than  any  of  his — or  their — competitors.  Through 
his  glasses  the  King,  or  rather  "  the  Prince," 
appears  as  "  The  most  accomplished  gentleman 
in  the  United  Kingdom  ;  his  courtesy  is  perfect, 
and  if  he  aspires  to  be  considered  the  '  First 
Gentleman  in  Europe,'  it  is  not  surprising.  He 
knows  how  to  combine  in  his  dress  extreme  refine- 


KING  EDWARD'S  ATTRIBUTES         37 

merit  with  the  utmost  simplicity,  and  he  is 
possessed  of  an  irresistible  grace,  making  each 
one  whom  he  addresses  believe  that  he,  and  he 
alone,  enjoys  his  Royal  Highness's  special  favour." 
"  We  [the  Emperor  William  i.  and  his  Chan- 
cellor] are  not  persons  to  go  to  Canossa,"  said 
Bismarck  during  the  "  Kulturkampf."  Kaiser 
Henry  iv.  had  "  knuckled  down  "  to  Pope  Gregory 
in  1077,  and  had  done  penance  in  "  the  snow- 
covered  court  of  Canossa  "  ;  but  Kaiser  William  I. 
was  not,  and  Kaiser  William  n.  is  not,  cast  in 
the  same  mould  as  was  Henry  iv.  Nor  will  any 
English  Sovereign  or  Prime  Minister  of  to-day 
dream  of  making  a  pilgrimage  to  Canossa.  Seldom 
has  there  been  a  more  transparent  or  a  more 
impudent  hoax  than  that  which,  three  months 
before  King  Edward's  death,  imputed  to  Lord 
Curzon  that  he  had  taken  the  initiative  in  pre- 
paring the  way  for  the  establishment  of  regular 
diplomatic  relations  with  the  Vatican.  Worst 
of  all  was  the  dragging  into  that  galimatias  of 
King  Edward,  whose  goodwill  towards  his  Roman 
Catholic  subjects  was  well  known.  This  country 
has  got  on  perfectly  well  without  any  direct 
diplomatic  representation  at  the  Vatican,  and 
there  is  a  very  general  reluctance  to  make  any 
change.  There  was,  in  1848,  a  proposal  to  estab- 
lish a  Legation,  or  a  Diplomatic  Agency,  at  the 
Vatican,  but  it  was  promptly  snuffed  out  by  the 
House  of  Commons.  During  the  Pontificate  of 
Pius  ix.  our  Government  certainly  sent  a  "  re- 
presentative," but  he  was  of  the  genus  known  as 


38         MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

"officious,"  not  "official."  That  step  was  due 
to  Mr.  Gladstone,  who,  in  1880,  when  the  agitation 
in  Ireland  threatened  to  disrupt  the  United 
Kingdom,  sent  Mr.  Errington  to  Rome  on  a 
confidential  mission  to  request  the  Pope  to  bid 
the  Irish  Catholics  to  act  with  more  loyalty  to 
the  throne.  Leo  xni.  complied  with  that  wish, 
hoping  that  his  mediation  with  the  fractious 
Irish  would  result  in  our  Government  sending  to 
the  Papal  Court  a  permanent  British  Diplomatic 
Agent.  His  Holiness  was,  however,  speedily  dis- 
illusioned. The  most  vehement  opponent  of  the 
Pope's  wishes  was  Cardinal  Manning,  between 
whom  and  Mr.  Gladstone  an  intimate  friendship 
existed  ! 

The  marriages,  of  Princess  "  Ena  "  of  Batten- 
berg  with  the  King  of  Spain  and  of  Princess  Maud 
of  Wales  with  the  King  of  Norway,  were  arranged 
by  Edward  vn.  despite  all  the  attempts  of  the 
German  Emperor  to  bring  about  alliances  with 
Teutonic  Princesses.  The  Kaiser's  failure  to 
secure  King  Alfonso  for  one  of  the  latter  ladies 
was  particularly  conspicuous.  When  the  Spanish 
Monarch  visited  Berlin  eight  or  nine  years  ago 
he  was  overwhelmed  by  the  Kaiser's  attentions. 
The  "  Imperial  Hunt  "  uniform  was  even  given 
to  him — a  rare  mark  of  the  "  All-Highest's  " 
favour  ;  and  in  the  Court  and  diplomatic  coulisses 
the  Emperor's  unceasing  efforts  to  "  place "  a 
German  Princess  in  Madrid  caused  unconcealed 
amusement.  In  both  cases  the  Emperor  was 
outwitted  by  his  gifted  Uncle  Edward,  compared 


KING  EDWARD'S  ATTRIBUTES         39 

with  whom  in  matters  demanding  delicate  handling, 
as  in  most  other  respects,  the  Imperial  inventor 
of  the  "  mailed  fist  "  and  "  sharp  sword  "  was  of 
little  account. 

The  Spanish  Press — the  Ultramontane  journals 
excepted — waxed  enthusiastic  over  King  Edward, 
who  had  for  proteges  Alfonso  xn.  and  his  son, 
the  consort  of  Princess  "  Ena."  The  King's 
villegiature  at  Biarritz  in  1907  lasted  just  thirty 
days.  The  Madrid  papers  struck  a  harmonious  note 
in  advance  of  the  meeting  of  the  English  and  Spanish 
Sovereigns  at  Cartagena,  and  their  cordial  remarks 
were  immediately  brought  to  King  Edward's 
notice.  The  "  Heraldo,"  which  represents  the 
opinions  of  the  leader  of  the  Radical-Democratic 
group,  found  King  Edward's  visit  to  the  Murcian 
seaport  an  event  of  undoubted  importance  for 
Spain.  '  There  is  not  the  slightest  reason  to 
temper  our  joy  with  the  unfounded  and  vain 
suspicion  that  this  approximation  to  England 
menaces  our  proud  independence.  That  may  be 
credited  by  the  Spanish  Ultramontanes,  those 
who  have  viewed,  and  still  view,  with  disfavour 
the  Royal  alliance  with  a  Princess  belonging  to 
a  country  where  liberty  of  conscience  is  a  dogma 
and  democracy  a  living  reality.  But  it  cannot  be 
believed  by  the  Liberals  "  ;  and  so  on,  in  high- 
flown,  but  most  complimentary,  terms. 

Even  the  Republican  "El  Liberal"  highly 
praised  English  policy,  and  warmly  approved  the 
Royal  meeting  at  Cartagena.  "  The  marriage  of 
King  Alfonso  gave  the  Ultramontane  Press  a 


40         MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

terrible  attack  of  Anglophobia,  from  which  those 
papers  have  not  yet  recovered.  For  their  fears 
over  the  Cartagena  interview  there  is  not  the 
slightest  foundation." 

I  have  not  dwelt  upon  the  late  Sovereign's 
efforts  and  achievements  in  the  home  field  of  social 
reform,  his  deep  interest,  both  as  Prince  and  as 
King,  in  the  amelioration  of  the  lot  of  the  people. 
Sir  Henry  C.  Burdett  had  every  facility  for  dealing 
with  this  phase  of  the  then  Heir-Apparent's  career 
nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago,  and  he  acquitted 
himself  of  his  task  in  a  manner  which  left  nothing 
to  desire.1 

Not  less  valuable  than  Sir  Henry's  work  was 
the  full  analysis  of  it  given  in  the  "  Quarterly 
Review."  In  any  "  official  "  Life  of  King  Edward 
which  we  may  have  some  day  the  "  Quarterly's  " 
article  should  be  embodied,  for  it  could  hardly 
be  improved  upon,  and  it  is  impossible  for  any 
Judet,  French  or  English,  to  use  it  for  his  own 
depreciatory  purposes. 

We  have  shown  (said  the  writer)  that  the  Prince 
has  identified  himself  at  one  time  or  another  with 
every  great  charitable  object  known  to  our  time, 
and  he  has  also  been  associated  with  all  the  most 
important  public  works  of  the  age.  He  drove  the 
last  rivet  into  Stephenson's  bridge  over  the  St. 
Lawrence  ;  he  opened  the  Thames  Embankment ; 
docks,  harbours,  bridges,  exhibitions  innumerable, 
have  been  "  inaugurated  "  by  him  ;  he  founded 
the  Royal  College  of  Music  ;  and  he  originated 
the  Fisheries  and  Colonial  Exhibitions,  which 

1  "  Prince,  Princess,  and  People."     Longmans,  1889. 


KING  EDWARD'S  ATTRIBUTES         41 

were  so  popular,  and  did  so  much  to  bring  the 
resources  of  our  colonies  under  the  very  eyes  of 
the  home  population.  In  every  duty  that  he  has 
undertaken  he  has  always  acquitted  himself  well. 

Without  the  most  wonderful  powers  of  endur- 
ance, he  could  never  have  gone  through  the  wear 
and  tear  of  his  endless  engagements.  An  ordinary 
day  in  his  life  would  tire  most  men  out.  In  this 
respect  he  has  always  been  the  same.  .  .  .  For  ten 
entire  days  in  Ireland  during  one  of  his  visits,  he 
scarcely  had  an  hour  to  himself,  except  during 
the  very  brief  interval  snatched  for  sleep.  .  .  . 
Without  a  very  considerable  knowledge,  not  only 
of  the  ordinary  questions  of  the  day,  but  also  of 
art,  science,  and  literature,  and  a  still  greater 
knowledge  of  human  nature,  it  would  be  impossible 
for  any  man  to  pass  successfully  through  such 
ordeals  as  these. 

We  should  infer  that  for  a  Prince  of  Wales  to 
become  popular  in  these  days,  and  to  remain  so, 
it  is  necessary  that  he  should  have  a  fair  knowledge 
of  everything ;  that  he  should  be  familiarly 
acquainted  with  the  chief  European  languages 
and  literature,  have  great  discernment  and  pene- 
tration, be  a  good  judge  of  music  and  painting, 
have  a  thorough  sympathy  with  the  sporting 
instincts  of  Englishmen,  show  an  interest  in  agri- 
cultural pursuits,  have  at  least  a  superficial 
knowledge  of  the  principal  manufactures  of  the 
country,  watch  attentively  the  course  of  politics 
without  talking  about  them,  be  on  good  terms 
with  the  leaders  of  parties  without  falling  under 
their  influence,  be  gifted  with  great  shrewdness  in 
judging  of  character,  possess  all  the  accomplish- 
ments of  ordinary  men,  with  a  good  many  added, 
show  amiability  to  all,  and  in  all  circumstances, 
and  be  absolutely  iron-clad  against  fatigue. 


42         MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

The  position  is  clearly  not  in  the  nature  of  those 
sinecures  of  which  we  hear  so  much  in  the  present 
day.  We  believe  we  only  express  the  general 
sense  of  the  country  when  we  affirm  that  the 
Prince  of  Wales  has  filled  this  position  in  a  manner 
which  has  won  for  him  universal  respect,  and 
even  a  much  warmer  personal  feeling,  as  was  made 
manifest  in  the  deep  anxiety  of  the  nation  during 
his  almost  fatal  illness  in  1871.  Without  entering 
into  invidious  comparisons,  it  may  be  confidently 
asserted  that  no  heir  to  the  British  Crown  ever 
before  took  such  pains  to  prepare  himself  for  the 
high  duties  which  in  course  of  time  await  him.  He 
has  submitted  himself  to  a  hard  and  stern  ap- 
prenticeship. He  is  known  to  have  devoted  the 
greatest  care  to  the  education  of  his  children, 
and  to  have  stimulated  in  them  that  desire  for 
travel  which,  in  his  own  experience,  he  had  found 
to  bring  so  great  a  reward. 

Living  in  the  full  glare  of  publicity,  the  man 
above  all  others  in  the  nation  around  whom 
personal  gossip  will  continually  revolve  ;  exposed 
at  all  times  to  misrepresentation,  or  the  shafts  of 
malice ; *  in  spite  of  all  this,  the  Prince  has  never 
rendered  himself  fairly  vulnerable  to  the  least  of 
the  attacks  which  were  habitually  levelled  at  some 
of  his  predecessors.  The  late  Emperor  [Frederick] 
of  Germany  and  our  own  Prince  of  Wales  stand 
out  among  most  Royal  personages  of  the  present 
generation  for  their  anxiety  to  deserve  well  of  their 
countrymen,  and  for  their  earnest  efforts  to  fulfil 
every  requirement  incidental  to  their  stations. 
The  path  of  duty  was  very  different  in  both  cases, 
but  in  both  it  was  conscientiously  followed  out. 
It  would  be  almost  miraculous  if  any  one 
occupying  a  foremost  position  in  any  country 

1  As,  for  example,  in  1891  and  1912. 


KING  EDWARD'S  ATTRIBUTES         43 

entirely  escaped  the  voice  of  detraction ;  but, 
in  justice  to  the  good  sense  and  good  feeling  of 
the  English  people,  it  must  be  acknowledged  that 
this  unwelcome  voice  is  almost  wholly  silent  where 
the  Prince  of  Wales  is  concerned.  Few,  indeed, 
are  they  who  will  not  cordially  and  frankly  acknow- 
ledge that  his  personal  qualities  and  his  lofty  sense 
of  duty  well  entitle  him  to  share  with  his  illustrious 
mother,  the  Sovereign,  the  loyalty  and  affection 
of  the  British  people  all  over  the  world. 

"  Attributes "  of  King  Edward !  They  are 
noted  in  scores  of  volumes  and  in  thousands  of 
newspaper  articles  and  magazine  essays,  written 
in  all  languages,  and,  with  rare  exceptions,  frankly 
eulogistic  of  our  Prince  and  King.  Where,  as  in 
1891,  Continental  and  other  writers  across  the  sea 
let  fly  their  poisoned  arrows  they  took  their 
inspiration  from  the  diatribes  of  English  journalists 
—some  of  them  (like  those  of  the  "  Tomahawk  " 
and  the  precious  "  Annuals  ")  Government  clerks, 
16  smearing  paper  "  by  day  and  defaming  Queen 
Victoria  and  her  son  by  night. 

Europe  was  spellbound  by  Edward  vn.  His 
movements,  his  alleged  sayings  (mostly  fiction), 
his  objects  (mostly  imaginary  also)  exercised  the 
minds  of  the  people  who  count.  The  calendar 
tells  us  that  it  is  August  1907.  It  is  the  holiday- 
time  of  the  Earth's  Rulers,  and  consequently  the 
witching  hour  of  the  canard.  Every  day  for  the 
next  three  or  four  weeks  the  telegraph  wires  will 
throb,  and  at  the  world's  telephone  there  will  be 
collected  diplomatists,  financiers,  merchants,  and 


44         MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

journalists,  all  agog  to  learn  what  is  passing  in  the 
coulisses.  It  is  gratifying  to  our  chauvinism  that 
our  amiable  Monarch  should  be  the  principal 
object  of  attention  in  the  vacation,  as  he  has 
long  been  at  other  times  of  the  year.  Abroad, 
they  have  affectionately  dubbed  him  "  POncle  de 
PEurope  "  ;  and  there  can  be  no  doubt  about 
his  ability  to  play  the  part  to  perfection :  it 
"  fits  him  like  a  glove."  His  wide  experience  of 
peoples  and  affairs  has  given  him  a  knowledge 
of  the  business  of  nations  not  possessed  by  any 
other  crowned  or  uncrowned  head.  Thus  it 
comes  to  pass  that,  as  in  the  golden  days  of  his 
Princedom  his  advice  was  sought  in  matters  of 
grave  import  to  "  society,"  so,  since  his  accession 
to  the  Throne,  his  sage  counsel  has  been  constantly 
in  request  by  the  wearers  of  other  crowns  and  the 
wielders  of  other  sceptres. 

It  is  the  penalty  which  King  Edward  pays  for 
his  popularity  that  whenever  the  opportunity  is 
afforded  him  of  a  talk  with  his  Imperial  nephew 
of  Berlin  the  world  is  rife  with  anxiety  to  know 
what  has  passed  between  the  two  Sovereigns. 
Nor  is  our  curiosity  doomed  to  remain  unsatisfied 
for  long.  When  Berlin,  Vienna,  and  Paris  com- 
bined cannot  slake  our  thirst  for  "  information," 
we  may  expect  a  cataclysm.  King  Edward  takes 
Cronberg  on  his  way  to  Marienbad  for  the  double 
purpose  of  seeing  his  niece — the  daughter  of  his 
sister,  who  reigned  as  Empress  for  three  months— 
and  his  nephew,  Kaiser  Wilhelm.  But  we  may 
fairly  anticipate,  judging  from  experiences  of  the 


Photo}  [S.  Cribb,  Southsea. 

KING  EDWARD  ON  BOARD  THE  DREADNOUGHT  (AUGUST  1907). 


KING  EDWARD'S  ATTRIBUTES        45 

recent  past,  a  series  of  journalistic  "  indiscretions  " 
of  a  more  or  less  improving  description,  ingeniously 
written,  and  made  the  most  of  by  the  ready- 
witted  conductors  of  the  organs  of  opinion  in 
which  these  attractive  plats  are  served  up.  Based 
upon  these  appetising  items  will  be  comments  in 
the  editorial  columns,  secundum  artem ;  and 
when  King  Edward  reaches  Schonbrunn  we  shall 
have  placed  before  us  a  mass  of  those  specula- 
tions, the  incubation  of  which  is  as  much  a 
specialty  of  the  Austrian  capital  as  are  its  famous 
Schnitzel,  its  Backhoendel  and  gurkensalat,  and 
its  altogether  extra-special  Esterhazy  Rostbraten. 
In  the  preparation  of  deliciously  -  stimulating 
fare  of  this  description  the  culinary  and  journal- 
istic chefs  of  the  Kaiserstadt  can  easily  give 
those  of  all  other  capitals  seven  pounds  and  a 
beating. 

We  must  not  leave  the  St.  Petersburg  cooks 
unrepresented  in  the  cuisine.  Their  skill  has  been 
put  to  the  test  of  late,  but  they  have  not  once 
been  found  wanting.  Towns  and  palaces  in 
flames  and  besieged,  holocausts  of  dead,  the  Army 
seamed  with  disloyalty,  the  Fleet  revolutionaries 
to  a  man,  and  "  probable  abdication  of  the  Tsar  ': 
—all  these  dishes  have  been  laid  before  us  until 
the  appetite  has  become  somewhat  cloyed  with 
the  wealth  of  the  diurnal  repast. 

Almost  without  exception  the  German  papers 
paid  high  tributes  to  King  Edward  between  May 
7  and  22, 1910.  In  the  presence  of  death  the  hearts 
of  the  most  ferocious  Anglophobes  were  softened, 


46         MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

and  an  influential  jorunal l  even  opened  its  lead- 
ing columns  to  Baron  d'Estournelles  de  Constant, 
president  of  the  French  section  of  the  Inter- 
Parliamentary  Union,  who  entreated  the  German 
people  to  abandon  the  mistaken  idea  that  the 
King's  policy  had  ever  been  antagonistic  to 
Germany.  Of  the  meeting  of  King  Edward  and 
the  Emperor  William  at  Kiel  in  1904  the  Baron 
wrote  : 

I  was  at  Kiel  at  that  time,  and  no  one  en- 
couraged me  more  than  the  King  in  my  efforts 
to  demonstrate,  after  the  reconciliation  between 
England  and  France,  the  possibility  of  a  German- 
French  rapprochement  on  the  basis  of  mutual 
concessions,  a  rapprochement  which  alone  can 
relieve  the  world  of  the  burden  of  unceasing 
armaments.  Far  from  watching  these  endeavours 
with  unfriendly  eyes,  the  King  supported  them 
with  sincere  cordiality,  and  with  his  unique 
tact.  On  the  day  when  the  Emperor  and  Count 
Billow  watched  the  course  of  the  regatta 
with  him  on  board  his  yacht  "  Victoria  and 
Albert "  he  steadily  and  openly  encouraged  me 
in  my  efforts  by  attentions  of  every  kind.  Nor 
was  the  Emperor  hostile.  To-day  the  conscience 
of  every  one  is  shaken  by  the  thought  of  the 
catastrophes  which  would  be  the  consequence  of 
a  European  war.  The  conscience  of  every  one 
deplores  the  increase  of  the  sacrifice  with  which 
this  impossible  struggle  is  being  prepared  for. 
But  the  will  of  two  men  is  not  strong  enough 
to  suspend  the  operation  of  past  errors,  even  when 

1  The  "  Berliner  Tageblatt,"  May  20,  1910  (the  day  of  the  King's 
funeral). 


KING  EDWARD'S  ATTRIBUTES         47 

these  two  men  are  Sovereigns  of  nations.  A 
fresh  education  of  public  opinion  must  support 
their  goodwill.  In  any  case,  however,  the  peace 
for  which  King  Edward  worked  was  no  peace 
against  Germany  ;  it  was  peace  for  all ;  honour 
and  benefaction  for  every  one. 

Even  an  extreme  Radical  politician  like  the 
ex-M.P.,  Mr.  Bottomley,  takes  a  view  of  King 
Edward's  diplomatic  achievements  and  all-round 
ability  totally  at  variance  with  the  discredited 
opinions  of  the  victim  of  the  "  informers."  Mr. 
Bottomley  thus  admirably  expressed  himself  *  four 
years  before  the  King's  death : 

We  write  in  a  spirit  of  reverence  and  love  ; 
reverence,  because  you  are  the  head  of  a  mighty 
State — mightier  than  the  mightiest  that  yet  has 
been  (for  we  do  not  believe  that  either  in  ancient 
Egypt  or  Assyria,  or  Babylon  or  Judea,  or  Greece 
or  Rome,  or  in  the  moaning  bed  of  the  lost  Atlantis, 
was  there  ever  civilisation  that  could  dim  the  glory 
of  your  empire) ;  and  love,  because,  although  a 
King,  you  are  a  Man.  You  are  of  us,  and  with 
us,  and  ever  for  us.  It  is  said  by  the  scientists 
that  in  the  after-rest  of  death  the  bones  of  the 
sleepers  are  as  one  ;  but  it  has  been  reserved  to 
you,  Sir,  to  prove  that  in  life  (whatever  that  may 
be)  the  soul  and  the  blood  of  a  king  may  be  the 
soul  and  the  blood  of  his  people. 

With  your  Majesty  on  the  throne,  a  Parliament 
is  almost  a  redundancy.  You  are  more  of  a  De- 
mocrat than  most  of  its  members.  When  your 
speech  was  read  to  the  Commons  at  the  beginning 

1  "  John  Bull's  "  Open  Letter  to  His  Majesty  King  Edward  the 
Seventh,  June  9,  1906. 


48         MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

of  this  Session,  it  was  said  by  some,  "  The  King 
has  turned  Socialist."  We  have  always  believed 
that  at  heart  your  Majesty  is  a  Republican.  The 
very  embodiment  of  individualism,  you,  Sir,  are 
always  teaching  us  what  the  Man,  as  distinguished 
from  the  State,  can  do.  You  are  our  Foreign 
Minister — our  Ambassador  to  all  the  Courts.  So 
long  as  you  live,  European  war  with  England  is 
impossible.  Clouds  may  appear  on  the  horizon, 
spots  on  the  political  sun ;  but  the  spectroscope 
of  statesmanship  is  applied,  and  all  men  turn  to 
the  King.  You  have  already  won  your  place  in 
history  as  Edward  the  Peacemaker. 

You  love  your  subjects  as  they  love  you. 
The  cottage  and  the  hospital  are  as  dear  to  your 
heart  as  the  palace  and  the  throne.  The  hardest 
worker  in  the  land,  you  join  in  our  pastimes  and 
our  sports.  The  cant  of  the  bigots  falls  lightly 
on  your  ears — for  you  are  King  of  England,  the 
home  of  the  free. 

Claiming  no  monopoly  of  our  virtues,  and 
looking  with  an  indulgent  eye  upon  our  weaknesses, 
you  are  essentially  our  King.  Sir,  what  you  are, 
and  all  that  you  are,  to  England  we  shall  never 
know  till  you  are  gone.  They  were  critical  days 
for  the  English  monarchy  when  you  came  to  the 
throne.  You  came,  you  saw,  you  conquered. 
But  your  task  is  a  heavy  one.  In  these  days 
the  security  of  the  Crown  is  eternal  vigilance. 
"  L'entente  cordiale  "  is  a  democratic  sort  of  thing. 
It  does  not  make  for  the  stability  of  the  throne  ; 
only  a  great  personality  can  do  that.  Hence 
there  are  but  two  safe  Crowns  to-day  in  Europe 
— and  your  Majesty's  is  by  far  the  safer  of  the 
two.  Long  may  you  live  to  wear  it ! 

What  shall  come  after  you,  who  shall  say  ?  .  .  . 
The  force  of  your  personality  is  reflected  in  all 


KING  EDWARD'S  ATTRIBUTES         49 

departments  of  public  life.  .  .  .  The  "  King — 
God  bless  him  "  is  the  toast  at  every  banquet— 
and  woe  to  him  who  would  dare  to  disrespect  it ! 
When,  on  the  eve  of  your  Coronation,  you  were 
stricken  down  by  sickness,  men  looked  at  one 
another  with  inquiring  eyes,  but  scarcely  spoke. 
They  were  too  busy,  thinking.  When,  pale  and 
worn,  you  drove  through  the  streets,  at  last  to 
claim  your  crown,  people  sighed  and  prayed. 
To-day  they  rejoice.  They  are  not  ready  to  face 
the  problems  which  your  life  obscures — and  which, 
may  be,  it  will  even  solve. 

Mr.  Bottomley  addresses  every  week  a  vast 
number  of  readers  who  doubtless  share  his  views, 
and  who  will  consequently  be  in  full  accord  with 
their  political  guide  in  his  fine  tribute  to  the 
masterfulness  of  King  Edward.  These  worthy 
people  in  theory  may  be  democrats,  but,  being 
believers  in  Mr.  Bottomley,  we  may  take  it  that 
they  also  believed  in  King  Edward,  and  so  regarded 
with  contempt  and  loathing  all  that  they  read  to 
his  discredit  in  1912. 

The  King  gave  an  audience,  in  1904,  to  the 
late  General  Booth,  to  whom  His  Majesty  said  : 
"  You  are  doing  a  great  work,  the  success  of  which 
I  regard  as  of  great  importance  to  my  Empire." 
Then  the  King  made  some  interesting  and  im- 
portant remarks  on  Socialism,  revealing  the  interest 
he  felt  not  only  in  the  working  classes,  but  in  the 
notions  that  they  entertain  respecting  the  material 
changes  which  they  regard  as  remedies  for  their 
difficulties.  King  Edward's  liberal  ideas  of  re- 
ligious liberty  greatly  impressed  the  Salvationist 


50         MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

chief,  who  seems  to  have  been  unaware  that  His 
Majesty  regarded  people  of  all  sects  and  creeds 
with  the  same  friendly  eye  and  never  refused  his 
protection  to  any  one  of  them.  It  was  well, 
however,  that  Mr.  Booth  should  have  learnt  the 
King's  opinions  on  religion. 

It  was  not  a  particularly  tender  critic  of  his 
Majesty  when  he  was  Prince  who  wrote : 

It  is  only  due  to  H.R.H.  to  say  that  for  con- 
stancy in  friendship,  loyalty  to  all  those  who  have 
once  served  him,  and  generosity  in  many  direc- 
tions he  has  never  been  surpassed  by  any  Heir- 
Apparent  to  the  throne.  All  classes  owe  him  a 
deep  debt  of  gratitude  for  his  zeal  in  the  public 
cause.  His  labours  in  that  cause  have  been 
ceaseless,  while  his  relatively  shallow  purse  has 
never  been  closed  to  the  cry  of  distress.  Those 
gentle  twins  of  a  noble  heart — benignity  and 
benevolence — have  never  deserted  him.  .  .  .  Soli- 
citous of  the  feelings  of  others,  tolerant,  even  to 
misplaced  complacency,  and  never  arrogant,  he 
has  evinced  many  of  those  characteristics  most 
admired  of  the  people,  and  it  was  but  in  the 
nature  of  things  that  popularity  should  be  the 
reward  of  such  a  Prince — a  Prince,  too,  who  un- 
complainingly has  taken  upon  himself  many  of 
the  labours  of  his  Sovereign  mother,  who,  though 
in  private  conscientiously  attending  to  the  political 
affairs  of  the  Crown,  has  in  large  measure  left  to 
her  son  the  performance  of  the  more  demonstrative 
part  of  those  high  social  duties,  particularly  the 
business  of  her  supreme  office. 

The  Prince  of  Wales  at  a  supper-party  on  the 
stage  of  a  theatre  was  a  novel  sight  for  the  very 


KING  EDWARD'S  ATTRIBUTES         51 

few  guests  whom  Irving  had  invited  in  May  1883  ; 
they  were  Bancroft,  Fernandez,  Toole,  and  Sala. 
I  think  it  was  a  new  experience  for  King  Edward, 
who  that  evening  had  attended  the  performance 
of  "  Much  Ado  about  Nothing."  Scanning  Mr. 
Brereton's  attractive  "  Life,"  *  I  gather  that,  as 
King  and  Queen,  their  Majesties  witnessed  "  Dante  " 
at  the  same  theatre  (1903).  As  Prince  and  Princess 
their  first  visit  to  the  Lyceum  was  to  see  "  Charles 
the  First"  (October  1872).  In  1877  they  wit- 
nessed "  The  Lyons  Mail,"  of  which  the  Prince 
said  Irving's  performance  was  "  one  of  the  best 
pieces  of  acting  they  had  ever  witnessed."  In 
1882  it  was  "  Romeo  and  Juliet,"  in  1885  "  Faust," 
in  1887  "The  Bells"  and  "Raising  the  Wind" 
("for  the  benefit  of  the  Actors'  Benevolent  Fund  "), 
and  in  1887  "  Olivia  "  ("  by  desire  ").  In  April 
1889,  at  Sandringham,  "The  Bells"  and  "The 
Merchant  of  Venice  "  were  given,  and  for  the  first 
time  Queen  Victoria,  who  was  visiting  her  son  and 
the  Princess,  saw  Irving  and  Miss  Ellen  Terry. 
Sir  Henry  Irving  died  at  Bradford  on  October  13, 
1905,  and  was  buried  at  Westminster  Abbey. 
Queen  Alexandra  sent  a  wreath  and  wrote  on  a 
card,  "  With  deepest  regret — from  the  Queen. 
4  Into  Thy  hands,  O  Lord— into  Thy  hands,'  " 
the  last  words  spoken  by  Becket,  "in  which 
character,"  says  Mr.  Brereton,  "  Irving  may  be 
said  to  have  died." 

We    are    gravely    assured    by   the   Dictionary 

1  "  The  Life  of  Henry  Irving."     By  Austin  Brereton.     Long- 
mans, 1908. 


52         MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

that  "  King  Edward  was  not  much  of  a  dramatic 
critic."     One  of  our  best-known  experts  says  : 

Before  the  death  of  the  Prince  Consort  there 
was  no  more  enthusiastic  playgoer  than  Queen 
Victoria,  who  particularly  enjoyed  farces  and 
funny  plays,  and  was,  of  course,  an  excellent 
audience.  Thanks  to  the  good  offices  of  the  Prince 
of  Wales,  who  knows  more  about  plays  and  good 
acting  than  most  men,  and  has  been  the  best 
friend  to  the  players  of  this  and  all  countries 
that  they  have  ever  had,  the  semi- Court  theatricals 
at  Balmoral,  Windsor,  Osborne,  and  Sandringham 
have  been  partially  revived,  thus  enabling  Queen 
Victoria  to  see  the  distinguished  actors  and 
actresses  of  what  may  be  called  the  Henry  Irving 
period  of  dramatic  art.1 

Most  people  will  prefer  Mr.  Scott's  opinion  on 
this  point. 

Of  seven  marble  busts  of  King  Edward  which 
were  exhibited  at  the  Royal  Academy  in  1911  one 
(Mr.  Albert  Bruce-Joy's)  was  executed  for  Man- 
chester University,  and  was  unveiled  by  Sir  William 
Mather  less  than  a  month  after  the  King's  death. 
Those  who  are  disposed  to  underrate  King  Edward 
should  keep  Sir  William  Mather's  happily-con- 
ceived address  before  them : 

This  ceremony  is  invested  with  pathetic  sad- 
ness inseparable  from  the  thought  of  the  death  of 
our  great  King,  whose  image  and  likeness  this 
marble  bust  so  faithfully  represents.  The  eminent 

1  "  The  Drama  of  Yesterday  and  To-day."     By  Clement  Scott. 
Macmillan  &  Co.  Limited,  1899. 


KING  EDWARD'S  ATTRIBUTES        53 

sculptor  whose  good  fortune  it  was  to  interest  the 
King  in  this  piece  of  work  as  it  grew  under  his 
skilful  hand  to  become  an  object  of  the  finest  art, 
has  earned  the  gratitude  of  the  Governors  and 
Council  of  our  University.  A  well-known  poet 
has  said  there  are  "  sermons  in  stones,"  and  if 
ever  stone  spoke  to  thoughtful  men  surely  this 
piece  of  marble,  portraying,  as  I  think,  not  only 
the  features  but  the  spirit  and  character  of  King 
Edward  vn.,  will  speak  through  generations  to 
come.  It  will  remind  them  of  his  genial  bearing 
to  the  poorest  of  his  subjects,  of  his  beneficence 
to  and  sympathy  with  the  suffering ;  of  his  noble, 
dignified  kingship  ;  and  his  untiring  efforts  wisely 
directed  in  the  cause  of  permanent  peace  among  all 
nations.  This  speaking  likeness  of  our  lamented 
King — the  last  taken  in  life — will  be  to  all  of  us 
who  were  privileged  to  feel  the  influence  of  his 
impressive  personality  a  precious  memento  of  his 
attributes.  The  students  of  the  University  will 
in  future  generations  find  in  this  bust  the  outward 
and  visible  signs  of  the  King  whose  reign  was  a 
benediction  not  only  to  the  British  Empire  but 
to  the  whole  world. 

What  lesson  can  the  universities  of  this  country 
derive  from  the  life  of  King  Edward  the  Peace- 
maker ?  Surely  it  should  inspire  them  to  incor- 
porate in  the  curricula  of  their  colleges  the  teaching 
of  peace  and  goodwill  among  nations  as  the  fairest 
fruits  of  all  knowledge  from  science,  art,  literature, 
philosophy,  and  religion.  A  Chair  of  International 
Laws  and  Arbitration  should  be  established  in  all 
universities  for  the  purpose  of  imparting  historical 
lessons  to  the  rising  generations,  showing  the 
futility  as  well  as  the  barbarism  of  wars,  and  the 
paramount  and  vital  necessity  of  international 
laws  and  tribunals  to  settle  all  disputes  by  reason, 


54         MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

knowledge,  conciliation,  and  justice.  May  the 
University  of  Manchester  take  the  lead  in  causing 
the  spirit  of  King  Edward  to  reign  for  ever  in  the 
hearts  and  minds  of  all  nations  ! 

The  Vice-Chancellor  termed  the  bust  "  a 
wonderful  work  of  art,  a  marvellously  faithful 
likeness  of  a  King  who  won  the  affections  of  his 
people  as  no  Sovereign  in  the  world's  history  had 
done  before."  The  King  took  the  greatest  interest 
in  the  bust  as  it  progressed,  and  warmly  praised 
it  when  it  was  completed.  His  Majesty  and 
Queen  Alexandra  knew  who  had  commissioned 
Mr.  Bruce-Joy  to  execute  it,  but  to  the  public 
the  name  of  the  loyal  donor  of  the  bust  to  the 
University  of  Manchester  has  never,  by  his  own 
request,  been  divulged. 


CHAPTER    III 

THE   IRON   FIST 

Kings  too  tame  are  despicably  good. — DRYDEN. 

"  I  WILL  have  no  scandals  !  " 

It  is  the  King  who  speaks.  Speaks !  He 
thunders  !  The  velvet  glove  is  pulled  off  almost 
savagely,  and  the  Iron  Fist  is  revealed  in  all  its 
strength.  With  the  Iron  Fist  he  bangs  the  table. 

"  I  will  have  no  scandals  !  I  will  never  come  to 
Dublin  again  !  I  will  give  nothing  !  "  (meaning  no 
"  honours  ")/ 

Lord  Aberdeen  listens  patiently.  He  is  prepared 
for  an  outburst  of  indignation,  but  not  for  this 
flow  of  passion,  this  unrestrained  torrent  of  anger. 
It  is  not  his  fault. 

Never  before  had  the  King  been  seen  in  such 
a  rage.  He  was  needlessly  furious  with  Lord 
Aberdeen.  He  would  not  allow  the  Lord-Lieu- 
tenant's escort  to  accompany  himself  and  the 
Queen  to  Leopardstown.  It  was  his  first  visit  to 
Ireland  during  Lord  Aberdeen's  Viceroyalty. 
What  chagrin  ! 

It  was  most  unfortunate  that   another  occur- 

1  Queen  Victoria  had  been  lavish  in  her  distribution  of  "  honours," 
and  bestowed  a  baronetcy  on  a  Dublin  fish  importer. 

55 


56         MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

rence  had  greatly  upset  King  Edward.  While  he 
was  at  the  Viceregal  Lodge  with  the  Lord  Lieu- 
tenant, his  favourite  Irish  terrier,  "  Pat,"  had 
suddenly  died.  ("  Pat's  "  successor  in  the  King's 
favour  was  "  Caesar.") 

Some  Colonel  Blood  had  been  at  work,  and  the 
Regalia  had  vanished.  Only  this. 

"  They  6  went  away '  once  before,  but  were 
brought  back,"  said  a  Castle  official  (now  de- 
ceased). 

The  arrival  of  the  King  and  Queen  at  Kings- 
town in  July  1907  coincided  with  the  announce- 
ment that  day  that  His  Majesty  had  granted  a 
free  pardon  to  Colonel  Arthur  Alfred  Lynch,  who 
had  been  elected  Nationalist  member  for  Galway 
in  1902,  and  was  sentenced  to  death  on  January 
23,  1903,  for  high  treason,  having  fought  on  the 
Boer  side  during  the  South  African  war.  His 
sentence  had  been  commuted  to  penal  servitude 
for  life,  but  he  was  released  on  licence  in  January 
1904. 

On  July  6,  1907,  four  days  before  the  King  and 
Queen  landed  at  Kingstown,  Sir  Arthur  Vicars, 
Ulster  King  of  Arms,  told  his  secretary,  Mr. 
Burtchaell,  that  "  a  dreadful  thing  had  happened. 
The  Regalia  of  the  Order  of  St.  Patrick— the 
Crown  Jewels — had  been  taken  out  of  the  strong 
room  and  taken  away," 

The  29th  of  July  1905,  the  fifth  year  of  King 
Edward's  reign,  is  the  date  of  the  Statutes  of 
the  Order  of  Saint  Patrick — Statutes  which  were 
appointed  by  virtue  of  Letters  Patent  passed  by 


THE  IRON  FIST  57 

His  Majesty  dealing  with  the  Order  "and  with 
the  very  custody  of  these  jewels." l  By  the  27th 
Statute  it  is  ordained  "  that  our  Ulster  King  of 
Arms  for  the  time  being  "  (then  Sir  Arthur  Vicars) 
"  shall  be  the  King  of  Arms  Knight  Attendant  on 
the  Order,  and  shall  have  the  custody  of  the  seal 
and  of  the  archives  of  the  Order  and  the  jewelled 
insignia  of  the  Grand  Master."  The  words 
"  jewelled  insignia  "  of  the  Grand  Master  mean  the 
jewels  that  were  abstracted.  Statute  12  thus 
defines  them  :  "  It  is  ordained  that  in  pursuance 
of  the  Royal  ordinance  of  our  Royal  predecessor 
King  William  the  Fourth,  bearing  date  the  7th  of 
March  1831,  the  jewelled  insignia  of  the  Grand 
Master  made  by  order  of  his  said  late  Majesty 
for  the  use  of  the  Grand  Master  of  the  Most 
Illustrious  Order,  of  which  a  description  is  here- 
unto annexed  and  which  are  Crown  Jewels,  shall 
be  handed  over  by  each  Lord-Lieutenant-General 
and  General  Governor  of  Ireland,  Grand  Master 
of  the  said  Most  Illustrious  Order,  to  his  successor 
at  such  time  as  the  Sword  of  State  is  delivered 
over,  and  shall  be  deposited  by  our  Ulster  King 
of  Arms  in  the  Chancery  of  the  Order  along  with 
the  other  insignia  of  the  Order." 

"  The  other  insignia  of  the  Order  "  means  the 
badges  and  collars  worn  by  the  Knights  Com- 
panions, "  and  some  of  these  collars,  it  is  common 
knowledge,  were  part  of  the  jewels  abstracted  on 

1  The  Solicitor-General,  at  the  second  sitting  of  the  members 
of  the  Crown  Jewels  Commission  (Ireland),  in  the  Office  of  Arms, 
Dublin  Castle,  January  n,  1908. 


58    MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

the  occasion "  (Solicitor- General).  The  jewels 
are  to  be  deposited,  along  with  the  other  insignia 
of  the  Order,  in  the  Chancery  of  the  Order.  Clause 
20  of  the  Statutes  says  :  "  It  is  further  ordained 
that  the  said  collars  and  badges  shall  be  deposited 
for  safe  keeping  in  a  steel  safe  in  the  strong  room 
of  the  Chancery  of  the  Order  in  the  Office  of  Arms 
in  Ireland  until  they  are  disposed  of  by  the  Grand 
Master." 

In  that  way  the  Ulster  King  of  Arms  becomes 
their  custodian. 

With  the  official  Blue  Book *  containing  the 
evidence  taken  by  the  Commissioners  before  us, 
we  can  avail  ourselves  of  the  privilege  of  entering 
the  Office  of  Arms  and  seeing  the  young  gentlemen 
at  work  from  11  a.m.  until  5.30  p.m. 

Here  is  Mr.  George  Dames  Burtchaell,  member 
of  the  Irish  Bar  and  secretary  to  Sir  Arthur 
Vicars  from  1893  downwards.  (Sir  A.  V.  was 
in  that  year  appointed  to  the  post  of  keeper 
of  the  valuables  which  were  abstracted  by  the 
Blood  of  the  period.2  Whether  Blood  is  Irish  or 
English  has  yet  to  be  made  known  to  an  anxious 
world.)  We  cannot  see  Mr.  Blake,  because  he 
left  the  Office  at  the  beginning  of  1907.  There  is 
Miss  Gibbon,  "  the  lady  who  does  the  scrivenry 
and  typewriting  work  "  (Mr.  Burtchaell's  descrip- 
tion), and  there  are,  or  were,  Mr.  Glencross,  Mr. 
Pierce  Mahony,  junior,  and  "  the  other  Heralds — 

1  Crown  Jewels  Commission  (Ireland).     Report  of  the  Viceregal 
Commission,   1908.     Appendix  to  same  Report  :  Minutes  of  Evi- 
dence.    Both  published  in  1908. 

2  Vide  the  chapter  "  King  Edward  in  Story." 


THE  IRON  FIST  59 

Mr.  Shackleton,  Mr.  Bennett  Goldney,  and  Mr. 
Horlock,"  Stivey,  the  Office  messenger,  and  Mrs. 
Farrell,  an  office  cleaner.  Messrs.  Shackleton, 
Goldney,  and  Horlock  were  simultaneously  ap- 
pointed at  the  beginning  of  1907.  "  Mr.  Shackle- 
ton,"  said  Mr.  Burtchaell,  "  was  very  seldom 
here  .  .  .  The  jewelled  insignia  were  shown  occa- 
sionally by  Sir  A.  Vicars  to  friends  of  his  own, 
or  sometimes  friends  of  my  own,  generally  ladies 
that  were  shown  the  Office.  .  .  .  Stivey  used  to 
open  the  strong  room  and  lock  it  up." 

Six  persons  had  keys  which  would  enable 
them  to  open  the  outer  door  of  the  strong  room 
at  any  time  of  the  night — Mr.  Burtchaell,  Mr. 
Mahony.  Mrs.  Farrell,  Stivey,  Sir  A.  Vicars,  and 
Detective  Kerr.  Nobody  slept  on  the  premises. 
On  Saturday,  July  6 — the  fatal  day — Mr.  Burt- 
chaell first  heard  that  the  jewels  were  gone. 
"  I  was  just  preparing  to  go  away,"  said  Mr. 
Burtchaell,  "  about  half -past  three  o'clock,  when 
Sir  A.  Vicars  came  up  and  told  me  that  a  dreadful 
thing  had  happened.  I  thought  when  he  told 
me  at  first  that  it  was  something  that  had  happened 
to  the  King  about  his  visit  to  this  country, 
and  then  he  told  me  that  the  safe  had  been 
opened  and  that  the  collars  and  jewels  had  been 
all  taken  out  and  taken  away  I  said  it  was  a 
dreadful  thing,  and  he  told  me  to  say  nothing 
at  all  about  it.  ...  Sir  A.  Vicars  asked  me 
whether  I  remembered  if  he  had  shown  the  jewels 
to  Dr.  Finney,  and  I  said  he  had  not,  to  my 
knowledge.  Then  he  asked  me  had  he  shown 


60         MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

them  to  Mr.  Hodgson,  and  I  said  I  believed  he 
had.  .  .  .  He  said  that  burglars  had  broken  into 
the  Office.  Some  time  after  we  had  come  down 
Sir  A.  Vicars  said  he  (the  burglar)  was  at  the  strong 
room  also." 

One  day — five  or  six  months  before  the  jewels 
had  vanished  from  the  lynx-eyed  officials — "  a 
strange  gentleman  arrived  at  the  Office."  Mrs. 
Farrell,  the  charwoman,  said  : 

He  came  in  here  and  opened  the  door, 
and  he  said  to  me,  like,  "  It's  all  right," 
or  something  like  that,  and  I  looked  at  him, 
and  the  sun  was  in  my  sight,  and  he,  like, 
stopped  there,  at  the  end  of  the  desk,  and  I 
did  not  like  it.  I  did  not  know  whether  he 
was  a  gentleman  connected  with  the  Office  or 
not,  and  he  apparently  came  down  to  this  end 
as  if  to  write  a  note,  and  he  then  went  out  again, 
and  he  nodded  to  me,  and  I  thought  he  was  some 

fentleman  connected  with  the  Office,  and  then 
came  to  see  if  there  was  a  note  on  that  table, 
and  there  was  no  note.  .  .  .  That  was  before  any 
of  the  officials  arrived.  There  was  nobody  but 
myself  about.  He  must  have  had  a  key.  When 
I  was  passing  the  strong  room  door  (Saturday, 
July  6,  the  day  of  the  discovery  of  the  theft),  I 
saw  the  door  partly  open. 

Mr.  William  Stivey,  a  messenger,  was  asked 
by  Sir  A.  Vicars  if  he  would  carry  a  key  of  the 
strong  room.  "  He  had  four  keys  and  he  liked 
me  to  have  one."  This  mark  of  confidence  was 
accorded  to  Stivey  upon  his  entering  the  Castle 
service.  "  There  was  no  reason  for  my  carrying 


THE  IRON  FIST  61 

a  key  except  that  Sir  A.  Vicars  wanted  me  to 
carry  one."  On  the  Wednesday  before  the 
Saturday  (July  6)  Stivey  told  Sir  A.  Vicars  what 
the  charwoman  had  said — that  she  had  found 
the  hall  door  unlocked ;  and  Sir  Arthur  said, 
"Is  that  so?"  or  "Did  she?"  and  Stivey 
replied,  "  Yes."  Sir  Arthur  said  nothing  more. 
He  did  not  tell  Stivey  to  go  and  inform  the 
police  of  (in  the  Solicitor  -  General's  words) 
"  that  remarkable  fact  "  that  Mrs.  Farrell  had 
said  she  "  had  found  the  strong  room  door 
open."  On  the  Saturday,  Stivey  said  to  Sir 
A.  Vicars  : 

"  Sir  Arthur,  the  last  time  you  were  at  the 
safe  you  could  not  have  locked  the  door."  "  Oh," 
said  Sir  Arthur,  "  I  must  have  done."  "  Well," 
said  Stivey,  "  I  find  that  the  safe  door  is  un- 
locked." "Oh,"  he  said,  "you  didn't.  What 
do  you  mean  ?  "  "So  Sir  Arthur  came  down  with 
me,  and  then  I  was  able  to  show  him  the  exact 
state  in  which  I  found  the  lock  when  I  came  to 
it.  Sir  Arthur  himself  opened  the  safe  door, 
and  the  first  thing  he  said  was,  '  The  key  is  in  the 
lock.'  He  said,  '  I  wonder  if  they  are  all  right  ?  ' 
meaning,  I  suppose,  the  Crown  Jewels.  With 
that  he  opened  that  case,  and  then  he  opened 
this,  and  went  down  on  one  knee  and  said,  c  My 
God,  they  are  gone  ;  the  jewels  are  gone,'  and  he 
said  that  he  wondered  if  anything  else  was  gone, 
and  put  his  hand  on  a  box  which  had  contained 
a  collar,  and  he  said,  6  Lord  Cork's  collar  gone.' 
And  then  he  said,  c  Anything  else  ? '  and  he 
removed  all  of  these  collar  boxes,  and  finding 
them  empty  as  he  opened  them  he  remarked  in 


62         MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

each  case,  c  This  gone  !  '  and  c  This  gone  !  '  and 
at  last  he  discovered  a  case  of  jewels  which  be- 
longed to  his  family,  private  property,  and  he 
found  that  that  was  gone  also.  '  Oh,'  he  said, 
6  my  mother's  diamonds  gone  also  !  '  He  made 
no  further  remark." 

When  Detective  Kerr  went  into  Sir  A.  Vicars' 
room  on  the  day  of  the  discovery,  Sir  Arthur 
said  :  "  Kerr,  the  jewels  are  all  gone.  Some  of 
the  smart  boys  that  have  been  over  here  for  the 
King's  visit  made  a  clean  sweep  of  them:" 

Who  stole  the  jewels  ?  The  evidence  taken 
by  the  Commission  did  not  tell  us. 

On  April  1,  1908,  in  the  House  of  Commons, 
Mr.  Birrell  (Secretary  for  Ireland)  contradicted 
indignantly  a  widespread  rumour,  which  had 
appeared  in  print,  connecting  Lord  Haddo,  son 
of  the  Viceroy,  with  the  theft.  "  The  robbery," 
said  Mr.  Birrell,  "  occurred  between  June  11  and 
July  6,  1907,  and  Lord  Haddo  had  lived  in  Scot- 
land, without  intermission,  from  March  7  until 
December  7." 

Once  more  the  mystery,  which  is  really  not 
much  of  a  mystery,  came  under  Parliamentary 
review  on  February  13,  1913,  when  Captain  Faber 
asked  the  Chief  Secretary  "whether  anything  had 
transpired  to  throw  light  on  the  subject  of  the 
theft  of  the  Dublin  Crown  Jewels,  and  whether 
either  now  or  at  any  time  since  the  robbery  in- 
formation relating  to  the  crime  had  been  available 
which,  for  the  sake  of  shielding  any  individual, 
had  not  been  used  ?  " 


THE  IRON  FIST  63 

Mr.  Birrell :  Nothing  whatever  has  been  dis- 
covered to  throw  any  light  on  the  mystery  of 
the  theft  of  the  Crown  Jewels,  nor  is  there  any 
evidence  whatever  in  existence  at  the  present 
moment  which  would  justify  the  arrest  of  any 
person.  The  story  which  some  one  must  have 
invented  out  of  spite  that  any  one  is  being  shielded 
from  prosecution  is  simply  a  lie,  and  I  am  sorry 
to  have  to  add  that  it  has  lately  been  revived 
in  connection  with  the  name  of  Lord  Haddo.  The 
introduction  of  his  Lordship's  name  into  the 
matter  is  a  particularly  cruel  outrage,  for,  as 
already  stated,  he  was  not  in  Ireland  for  months 
before  the  robbery,  he  had  no  connection  with 
the  Office  of  Arms,  and  was  only  inside  that  Office 
once  in  his  life. 

Mr.  Ginnell  :  On  what  grounds,  except  In- 
spector Kane's  report,  did  the  Chief  Secretary 
ask  Lord  Haddo  to  say  that  he  was  absent  from 
Dublin  at  the  time  ? 

Mr.  Birrell  :  I  inquired  about  the  movements 
of  Lord  Haddo  because,  I  regret  to  say,  in  some 
infamous  newspaper  in  this  country  his  name  was 
connected  with  the  theft. 

Mr.  Ginnell  :  Why  was  not  Lord  Haddo  pro- 
duced before  the  Commission  ? 

No  answer  was  given. 

Earl  Winterton  asked  "  who  were  the  persons 
holding  official  positions  entitling  them  to  have 
access,  or  acting  as  clerks  or  secretaries  to  those 
entitled  to  have  access  to  the  jewels  at  the  time 
immediately  preceding  the  theft,  how  many  of 
those  persons  had  subsequently  resigned  their 
offices,  and  what  reasons  were  given  in  each  case  ?  " 

Mr.  Birrell  :  The  only  person  entitled  to  have 
access  to  the  Crown  Jewels  was  Sir  Arthur  Vicars, 
Ulster  King  of  Arms.  The  persons  employed  in 


64         MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

the  Office  of  Arms  immediately  preceding  the 
theft  were  Mr.  Burtchaell,  secretary  to  Sir  Arthur 
Vicars ;  Mr.  Horlock,  clerk,  and  Miss  Gibbon, 
typist.  These  persons  were  in  the  personal  em- 
ployment of  Sir  A.  Vicars,  and  their  employment 
ceased  on  his  removal  from  office.  Mr.  Burtchaell 
was  subsequently  placed  in  charge  of  the  Office, 
and  has  since  been  appointed  Athlone  Pursuivant. 
The  officials  attached  to  the  Office  at  the  time 
were  Mr.  Mahony,  Cork  Herald  ;  Mr.  Shackleton, 
Dublin  Herald  ;  and  Mr.  Goldney,  Athlone  Pur- 
suivant. In  October  1907  it  was  decided,  with 
the  approval  of  the  Crown,  that  the  Office  of  Arms, 
Dublin  Castle,  should  be  reconstructed.  This 
involved  the  retirement  of  the  Dublin  Herald 
and  the  Athlone  Pursuivant,  who  were  notified 
accordingly,  and  resigned  office.  Mr.  Mahony, 
the  Cork  Herald,  resigned  in  1910,  assigning  no 
reason  for  doing  so. 

Mr.  Ginnell  :  How  is  it  that  during  the  last 
five  years  the  right  hon.  gentleman  has  not  been 
able  to  get  anybody  in  Ireland  to  believe  his 
version  of  this  story  ? 

No  answer  was  given. 

Had  the  Dublin  police,  a  few  days,  or  a  few 
weeks,  or  a  few  months,  after  the  robbery,  gathered 
sufficient  information  to  warrant  a  prosecution  of 
a  suspected  person  or  persons  ?  If  so,  why  did 
they  not  move  ?  There  was  a  reason,  a  very 
good  reason.  It  may  be  found  in  the  opening 
words  of  this  chapter  :  "I  will  not  have  any 
scandals  !  5: 

The  robbery,  the  loss  of  the  jewels,  was  bad 
enough,  but  a  prosecution,  successful  or  unsuccess- 


THE  IRON  FIST  65 

ful,  would  have  been  a  calamity,  the  effects  of 
which  would  have  been  felt  for  years.  Why  ? 
Because  it  might  have  necessitated  the  publication 
of  evidence  having  no  bearing  upon  the  crime,  but 
a  direct  bearing  upon  the  reputations  of  persons 
not  in  any  way  implicated  in  the  robbery  of 
the  jewels.  Thus  the  innocent  might  have  suffered 
by  the  mere  dragging  in  and  publication  of  their 
names  side  by  side  with  those  of  very  undesirable 
individuals. 

Casual  introductions  are  often  followed  by 
something  more  than  temporary  unpleasantness, 
and  so  it  might  have  proved  had  this  case  of  the 
theft  from  the  Castle  been  taken  into  a  criminal 
court.  Dublin  Castle  is  a  Royal  Palace.  The 
Viceregal  Court  is  only  second  in  importance 
to  the  Sovereign's  own  Court,  although  the  former 
has  been  often  described,  in  Parliament  and  in  the 
Press,  as  a  sorry  imitation  of  the  latter.  The 
Castle  and  its  ceremonies,  although  not  lacking  in 
brilliancy  and  picturesqueness,  have  been  derided 
even  by  the  Irish  themselves.  From  1870,  if  not 
earlier,  down  to  the  accession  of  the  ]ate  King, 
successive  Governments  have  been  urged  to 
abolish  the  Viceroy alty  as  it  now  exists,  and  to 
replace  the  Lord-Lieutenant  by  a  Royal  Prince. 

Five-and-twenty  years  ago  (in  1888)  a  Royal 
Prince,  the  Prince  of  Wales,  declared  his  willing- 
ness to  "  go  to  Ireland."  The  Princess  was  equally 
willing.  Had  they  been  allowed  to  go  we  might 
have  been  spared  the  Home  Rule  pother — some 
of  it  certainly,  perhaps  all. 
5 


66         MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

In  May  1889  a  correspondent  of  the  (Paris) 
"  New  York  Herald  "  had  an  interview  with  a 
friend  of  the  Prince  of  Wales. 

"  What  is  the  truth  about  the  Prince's  attitude 
on  the  Irish  question  ?  "  asked  the  reporter. 

"  I  am  not  at  liberty  to  repeat  conversations," 
was  the  reply,  "  but  I  sincerely  believe — in  fact, 
I  know — that  had  the  Prince  of  Wales  been  sent 
to  Ireland  years  ago  to  administer  its  affairs  the 
long  series  of  troubles  over  there  would  never  have 
happened.  We  should  never  have  heard  of  the 
outrages  that  have  distracted  the  Irish  people. 
He  would  not  only  have  been  a  successful  adminis- 
trator, but  he  would  have  made  the  country  as 
prosperous  as  any  on  the  globe.  The  people 
would  have  been  happy,  and  the  Prince  would  have 
been  beloved  by  them.  It  is  unfortunate  that 
such  a  state  of  affairs  could  not  have  been  brought 
about.  The  Prince  is  a  man  of  a  comprehensive 
mind,  great  tact,  a  genial  temper,  and  good 
business  qualifications." 

At  the  critics'  view  of  the  Royal  Academy 
(1889)  I  met  a  representative  of  the  principal 
Press  Agency,  who  remarked  proprio  motu,  "  We 
have  extensively  quoted  your  articles  on  the 
Prince  of  Wales  and  the  Irish  Viceroyalty.  We 
knew  the  information  which  you  published  was 
absolutely  true,  or  we  should  not  have  helped  to 
give  it  the  wide  publicity  which  it  has  now 
obtained." 

King  Edward's  first  acquaintance  with  the 
Green  Isle  dates  from  1849,  when  he  and  his 
eldest  sister,  the  late  Empress  Frederick  of 


THE  IRON  FIST  67 

Germany,  and  two  other  of  the  Royal  children, 
accompanied   their    parents    to    Ireland.     In   the 
previous  year,   the   memorable   '48,   the   country 
was    seething    with    disaffection,    yet,    from    the 
moment    of    landing    until    their    departure,    the 
Queen  and  Prince  Albert  were  the  objects  of  the 
most    enthusiastic    demonstrations.     A    squadron 
escorted  the  Royal  party  to  the  Cove  of  Cork, 
which,    in   honour   of   the    occasion,    was   named 
"  Queenstown."      The    sight    of    the    Sovereign's 
young  family  aroused  the  people  to  a  loyal  frenzy, 
and  one  fair  Milesian,  in  the  exuberance  of  her 
admiration,  made  this  direct  personal  appeal  to 
Her  Majesty,  "  Oh,  Queen  dear,  make  one  of  your 
dear  children  Prince  Patrick,  and  all  Ireland  will 
die  for  you  !  ':     An  "  interesting  event  "  occurred 
in  the  following  year,  when  the  nouveau-ne  was 
christened  Arthur  Patrick  Albert,  while  in  later 
years,  as  another  proof  of  her  regard  for  the  Sister 
Isle,  Her  Majesty  created  him  Duke  of  Connaught. 
In  1861  Queen  Victoria  and  the  Prince  Consort 
paid  their  second  visit  to  Ireland,  the  Prince  of 
Wales  being  then  engaged  in  the  performance  of 
his  military  duties  at  the  Curragh   Camp.     The 
Royal  hosts  were  Lord  Castlerosse  and  Mr.  Herbert 
of  Muckross.     The  beauties  of  Killarney  were  all 
new   to   the    Queen,    who   revelled   in   this    Irish 
wonderland.     When  the  Queen  and  her  Consort 
drove  to  the  Curragh  to  see  the  Prince  of  Wales, 
the  weather  was  very  stormy,  and  Prince  Albert, 
like  everybody   else,   was   drenched  to  the  skin. 
Later   that   autumn   the   Prince   Consort   caught 


68          MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

another  chill  at  the  review  by  the  Queen  of  the 
Eton  College  Volunteer  Rifle  Corps  at  Windsor, 
and  his  fatal  illness  dated  from  that  day. 

Hurried,  or,  to  use  a  popular  phrase,  "  rushed," 
legislation  is  generally  to  be  deprecated,  as  incom- 
plete and  in  some  respects  scamped.1  Considerate 
it  may  be  to  some  interests,  but  unmindful  of 
others ;  and  in  our  very  complex  civilisation 
and  unsystematic  system  of  polity  constitutional 
changes  and  reforms  require  long  and  serious  con- 
sideration ere  they  can  be  successfully  launched 
into  working  existence.  So  probably  thought  in 
1889  our  prudent  and  pensive  Premier 2  about 
the  ticklish  question,  the  maintenance  or  abolition 
of  the  Viceroyalty  in  Ireland,  raised  by  the  diffi- 
culty of  finding  a  suitable  successor  to  Lord 
Londonderry,  who  merely  accepted  the  onerous 
office  for  a  certain  term  to  assist  the  Government, 
and  only  held  office  at  considerable  sacrifice  of 
his  own  interests  till  proper  provision  could  be 
made  for  the  succession. 

That  Lord  Salisbury,  with  his  intimate  know- 
ledge of  the  history  of  Ireland  in  the  past  as  in 
the  present,  and  in  the  possession  of  all  the  facts 
bearing  upon  the  case,  should  not  have  been  even 
in  advance  of  public  opinion  in  seeing  that  the 
Court  and  Castle  at  Dublin  are  an  archaic  ana- 
chronism, whose  raison  d'etre  has  been  supplanted 
by  steam  and  electricity  ;  that  the  holder  of  the 
Sword  of  State  is  to  a  certain  extent  in  a  false 
position,  representing  his  Sovereign  as  Lord- 

1  M.  O'Connor  Morris  (1889).  2  Lord  Salisbury. 


THE  IRON  FIST  69 

Deputy   while   he   is   really   and   practically   the 
nominee  of  a  Party  ;    and  that  all  practical  power 
and  the  machinery  of  government  have  drifted 
mole  sua,  or  by  gubernatorial  gravitation,  so  to 
speak,   into  the   hands   of  his   Chief  Secretary — 
this  must  have  been  evident  to  all  candid  minds, 
as  well  as  the  fact  that  the  Premier  gave  due 
weight  to  the  considerations  urged  for  supplanting 
'  the   unreal   mockery,"   the   Milesian   mirage   of 
Royalty,  by  its  actual  and  visible  embodiment  in 
the  person  of  a  Royal  Prince,  who  at  that  time  was 
the  Heir-Apparent,  and  a  real  Court.     But  Lord 
Salisbury  held  much  to  the  constitutional  dogmas 
of  "  quieta  non  movere  "  and  "  festinare  lente," 
while  he   saw  the  great   advantage  of   maturing 
or,    in   Beaconsfieldian   philosophy,   "  educating," 
the  public  mind  for   any  great  change  which  it 
might  have  been  necessary  to   make  by   an   ad 
interim   arrangement   which   would   have   formed 
no  obstacle  to  the  due  threshing  out  of  the  subject 
and   gaining    the    alliance    of    the    commonsense 
judgment  of  the  people  of  the  United  Kingdom  ; 
for,  curiously  enough,  the  exponents  of  the  opinion 
of  one  large   section  of   interested   Irishmen  had 
expressed  their  decided  antagonism  to  the  abolition 
of  the  Viceregal  office,  although  but  a  few  years 
previously  no  Cato  was  ever  more  sententious  in 
his  utterances  against  the  existence  of  Carthage 
than  they  were  against  Dublin  Castle  and  Dublin 
Court,  whose  fate,  they  said,  was  to  be  that  of 
"  rats." 

That   Lord    Salisbury   should    have    found    it 


70          MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

difficult  in  1889  to  fill  the  post  of  Lord-Lieutenant 
was  not  surprising.     The  office  was  described  by 
Bernal  Osborne  as  a   "  gilded  pillory,"   and  the 
pillory  is  associated  with  infinitely  more  pelting 
now  than  it  was  seventy  years  ago,  while,  from 
one  cause  or  another,  it  has  become  a  most  costly 
corvee.     Some  years  since  it  would  have  been  an 
easy  matter  to  follow  the   cautious   and   careful 
Kimberley  in  the  Castle,   but  the  tenure  of  the 
Sword  of  State  of  such  open-handed  men  as  the 
Duke  of  Abercorn,  Lord  Londonderry,  and  Lord 
Spencer   (who  had   not  joined  the   "  Salvation  " 
squadron  openly  then)  makes  it  extremely  hard 
for  any  but  rich  men  to  undertake  the  post ;    and 
rich  men  have  become  rather  rare  among  the  classes 
who  derive  their  revenues  from  agrarian  sources. 
Nor  can  any  save  a  somewhat  pachydermatous 
patriot  fill   a  post  where,   as  in  Lord   Spencer's 
case,  the  most  fearful  accusations  can  be  hurled 
at  your  private  and  public  character  with  com- 
parative impunity,  and  every  action  and  expression 
be  warped  and   misconstrued  to  your  prejudice. 
History  will  do  justice  to  the  splendid  public  and 
private  liberality  of  the  Londonderry  regime,  to 
the  gaiety  and  brilliancy  of  his  Court,  and  to  the 
support  he  accorded  to  the  best  interests  of  the 
country  over  which  he  presided.     An  Ulster  land- 
lord, his  popularity  in  Ulster  is  unbounded,  and 
but  for  the  teachings  of  a  violently  and  virulently 
hostile  Press  his  presence  would  have  been  equally 
pleasing  to  masses  and  classes  alike  in  the  other 
provinces ;    but  his  courtesy  title  was   "  Castle- 


THE  IRON  FIST  71 

reagh,"  and  that,  to  National  notions,  was  a  deadly 
crime,  though,  for  all  that,  in  the  Valhalla  of 
illustrious  Irishmen  few  will  take  a  more  conspicu- 
ous place  than  his  ancestor — or  rather  relation — 
Castlereagh  the  Great  :  salvator  imperil,  con- 
jointly with  Arthur  Wellesley,  his  countryman. 
Even  Lord  Londonderry's  strenuous  support  of 
one  of  Ireland's  great  resources — horse  breeding 
and  horse  culture — was  made  an  article  of  im- 
peachment, and  "  the  people  "  were  instructed  to 
oppose  his  modest  hunting  excursions — not  under- 
taken vi  et  armis,  like  those  of  that  sporting 
satrap,  Lord  Spencer,  whose  pursuing  progress 
involved  a  posse  of  police  and  a  squadron  of 
cavalry,  plus  detectives  and  aides-de-chasse  galore. 
I  have  already  said  that  Lord  Londonderry 
undertook  the  Lord-Lieutenancy  of  Ireland  for  a 
limited  term  in  obedience  to  the  dictates  of 
patriotism  and  the  promotion  of  the  interests  of 
his  Party,  which  he  and  many  more  hold  to  be 
identical ;  but  if  Lord  Londonderry  consented 
to  sacrifice  his  will  and  interests  at  the  altar  of 
duty,  what  shall  we  say  of  the  far  greater  sacrifices 
which  in  1889  Lord  Zetland  made  for  the  cause 
so  dear  to  himself  and  his  friend  the  then  Viceroy  ? 
Lord  Londonderry  owns  an  Irish  estate  and  has  a 
residence  in  the  County  Down.  Lord  Zetland  had 
hardly  a  single  tie  to  Ireland,  save  a  few  relations 
residing  there  ;  nor  does  he  own  an  acre  of  its 
shamrocky  soil.  His  estates  lie  in  Yorkshire, 
Durham,  and  Northern  Britain,  and  the  due 
development  of  their  resources — mineral,  marine, 


72         MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

pastoral,  and  agricultural — is  enough  to  give  active 
and  constant  employment  to  the  most  energetic 
mind  and  body  ;  while  the  splendid  picture  by 
Hardy  of  Aske  Castle  and  the  Aske  Hunt  shows 
one  scene  of  the  seignorial  style  in  which  Lord 
Zetland  provides,  proprio  sumptu,  "  the  sport  of 
Kings  "  for  his  neighbours  and  friends,  as  well  as 
for  the  pursuing  public,  who  are  welcome  to  join 
his  hounds  if  so  be  they  will  only  observe  the 
canons  of  the  chase,  known,  if  not  read,  by  all 
of  the  foxhunting  guild.  From  all  these  sporting 
sodalities — from  firstrate  hunting  and  splendid 
shooting  of  every  description — from  scenes  and 
societies  where  he  is  warmly  welcomed  and  highly 
honoured,  Lord  Zetland  started  off  at  the  trumpet- 
call  of  duty  to  face  functions  which,  if  not 
dangerous,  are  dispendious  to  a  degree  and  dis- 
agreeable to  a  still  further  extent.  The  Press  of 
party  launched  its  missiles  (bruta  fulmina,  however) 
at  his  head ;  the  "  Daily  News  "  damned  him 
with  the  faint  praise  that  "  nothing  can  be  said 
against  him,"  and  urged  that  he  was  an  utterly 
unknown  man  ;  and  Lord  Spencer,  who  had  most 
unfortunately  forgotten  that  silence  is  sometimes 
golden,  called  him  "  a  young  man  from  Yorkshire," 
forgetting  that  Lord  Zetland,  then  in  his  ninth 
lustrum,  was  not  many  years  younger  than  him- 
self, while  he  had  been  infinitely  more  fortunate 
in  his  career,  for  Lord  Zetland,  since  he  attained 
his  majority,  had  made  troops  of  friends  and  hardly 
one  enemy.  In  the  "  Blues  "  he  was  most  popular  ; 
as  in  the  Queen's  Household.  In  Yorkshire  his  is  a 


THE  IRON  FIST  73 

name  to  conjure  with,  and  the  voters  of  Richmond, 
where  he  is  best  known,  returned  him  to  Parlia- 
ment till  his  uncle's  death  promoted  him  to  the 
Upper  House,  and  then  his  brother  filled  his  place 
in  the  Commons  for  many  years.  The  splenetic 
scribe  to  whom  I  have  already  referred  called 
Lord  Zetland,  inter  alia,  a  "  titled  tool."  Lord 
Zetland,  who  was  neither  ambitious  nor  self- 
sufficient,  proved  an  effective  lever  in  aiding  the 
pacification  and  amelioration  of  Ireland,  while 
he  did  not  attempt,  like  one  or  two  I  wot  of,  the 
rash  feat  of  solving  the  Irish  question  d'emblee, 
or  off  his  own  bat,  without  proper  connaissance 
de  cause  ;  but  those  who  have  faith  in  heredity 
readily  acknowledged  that  Lord  Zetland  might 
well  be  expected  to  inherit  statesmanlike  gifts 
from  a  long  line  of  statesmen  forbears,  nor,  pace 
the  "  Daily  News,"  was  his  hereditary  wealth  any 
barrier  to  his  success  in  Ireland ;  for,  if  the 
average  Hibernian  be  occasionally  lukewarm  in 
his  love  to  his  Sovereign,  he  has  certainly  no 
strong  antipathy  to  her  image  and  superscription 
on  a  golden  token.  "  Essayez "  is  the  family 
motto  ;  the  essay  was  a  thorough  success. 

Lord  Zetland,  who  is  related  to  the  Talbots 
and  Fitzwilliams  in  Eastern  Ireland,  had  previously 
added  largely  to  the  long  list  of  his  friends  by  a 
couple  of  visits  to  the  Viceregal  Lodge,  when  he 
hunted  several  times  with  the  Meath  Hounds,  and 
was  very  fortunate  in  skimming  the  cream  of  the 
season  on  three  several  occasions  ;  for  although 
his  Lordship  is  heavily  handicapped  in  the  hunting- 


74         MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

field  by  short  sight,  yet  with  the  aid  of  glasses 
he  managed  somehow  to  keep  in  the  first  flight  and 
to  hold  his  own  with  the  best  of  the  natives.  Even 
in  these  days  of  polemical  and  political  discord, 
of  Parliament  Acts  and  Marconi  scandals,  sports- 
manlike proclivities  and  straight  riding  have  not 
wholly  lost  their  spell  in  Ireland,  nor  can  Irish- 
men forget  the  gallant  struggle  between  Russ- 
borough  and  Voltigeur  over  the  Town  Moor,  for 
valour  inspires  respect.  Neither  is  a  taste  for  the 
turf  any  disadvantage  to  a  Viceroy  of  Ireland, 
for  none  was  ever  more  popular  than  that  turfite 
Lord  Normanby.  Au  reste,  Lady  Zetland,  a 
sister  of  Lady  Newport  and  Lady  Grosvenor, 
fully  and  deservedly  shared  in  her  husband's 
popularity,  and  kept  up  the  stately  success 
of  charming  chatelaines,  or  Vice- Queens,  most 
worthily ;  and  the  advent  of  Laurence  Dundas 
in  the  land  of  the  "  Larries  "  proved  not  only  a 
great  social  success,  but  also  "  Auspicium  melioris 
cevi."  1 

A  few  years  ago  the  Reform  Club  was  shaken 
to  its  foundations  by  the  report  that  Lord  Aber- 
deen had  resolved  to  abdicate  and  leave  the 
Viceregal  functions  to  be  performed  by  some  other 
of  Mr.  Asquith's  friends.  There  was  not  an  atom 
of  foundation  for  the  canard,  as  the  noble  Lord 
promptly  declared,  to  the  great  relief  of  the  Party.2 
The  rumour  reminded  one  of  the  speculations 

1  M.  O'Connor  Morris  (1889). 

2  Lord  Aberdeen  publicly  contradicted  a  similar  statement  in 
March  1913. 


THE  IRON  FIST  75 

indulged  in  in  the  May  and  June  of  1889,  when 
Lord  Salisbury  found  more  difficulty  than  he  had 
bargained  for  in  choosing  a  successor  to  the 
Marquis  of  Londonderry,  prince  of  Lord-Lieu- 
tenants. The  choice  ultimately  fell  upon  Lord 
Zetland,  who  was  created  a  Marquis  three  years 
later. 

Previous  to  the  appointment  of  Lord  Zetland 
there  had  been  much  discussion  anent  the  main- 
tenance or  the  abolition  of  the  Viceroyalty. 
Weighty  arguments  were  adduced  in  favour  of 
abolishing  what,  it  was  contended,  had  become 
"  the  Milesian  mirage  of  Royalty,"  and  substitut- 
ing for  "  the  unreal  mockery  "  its  visible  embodi- 
ment in  the  person  of  a  Royal  Prince  and  a  real 
Court.  Those  who  advocated  this  view  certainly 
had  the  courage  of  their  opinions,  for  they  did  not 
conceal  their  wish  to  see  the  position  of  Viceroy 
filled  by  the  Prince  of  Wales — King  Edward. 

After  going  carefully  through  the  pages  of 
"  Burke,"  and  finding  nobody  willing,  and  at  the 
same  time  qualified,  to  go  to  Ireland,  nominally 
as  Lord-Lieutenant,  but  really  as  locum  tenens 
for  the  Prince  of  Wales,  Lord  Salisbury,  just  when 
he  had  come  to  the  end  of  the  alphabet,  much 
puzzled,  hit  upon  "  a  jolly  young  Yorkshireman," 
named  Lord  Zetland,  who  was  willing  to  do  his 
best  if  sent  across  the  Channel.  So  he  was  sent 
to  the  Castle  as  "  the  Prince's "  warming-pan. 
The  post  was  filled  by  Lord  Zetland  with  great 
distinction  and  success  from  1889  until  1892,  and 
he  proved  himself  a  worthy  successor  of  Lord 


76         MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

Londonderry,  whose  regime  is  still  remembered 
for  its  exceptional  brilliancy.  Lord  Zetland's 
predecessor  in  the  title,  as  sportsmen  will  not  need 
to  be  reminded,  was  his  uncle,  the  popular  "  Tom 
Dundas,"  who  obtained  world- wide  fame  as  the 
owner  of  Voltigeur,  the  winner  of  both  the  Derby 
and  the  St.  Leger.  Lord  ClonmelFs  mot  touching 
the  Viceroy alty  is  too  clever  to  be  omitted.  He 
told  Lord  Cloncurry,  in  one  of  the  last  letters  he 
ever  wrote,  that  he  (Clonmell)  would  rather  be  a 
chimney-sweeper  than  be  connected  with  the  Irish 
Government.  I  have  heard  other  peers — notably 
the  late  Earl  of  Charlemont — say  much  the  same 
thing  in  slightly  different  words. 


CHAPTER    IV 

RENAISSANCE   OF   THE   MONARCHY 

"  THE  constitutional  and  hereditary  Monarchy 
that  we  happily  possess  is  not  an  outworn  relic  of 
the  past,  as  some  shallow,  theory-ridden  minds 
suppose.  It  is  their  theories  that  are  outworn, 
and  out  of  tune  both  with  the  facts  and  with  the 
deeper  instincts  of  the  people.  The  Monarchy 
is  a  living  thing  which  has  grown  with  the  nation, 
changed  with  it,  and  adapted  itself  to  the  new 
conditions  brought  about  by  new  deeds,  new  ideas, 
and  the  whole  process  of  change  which  no  living 
thing  escapes.  It  has  not  the  place  it  once  had, 
but  it  has  become  far  more  important  in  a  different 
way.  It  is  the  central  ganglion  which  extends 
its  fibres  through  all  the  limbs  and  organs  of  the 
body  politic,  and  holds  them  together  as  a  living 
organism."  * 

From  1862  onwards  there  were  complaints  (1) 
of  the  invisibility  of  the  Sovereign,  and  (2)  of  the 
lack  of  the  externals  of  Royalty.  Where,  it  was 
asked,  were  "  the  shows  of  yesteryear "  ?  It 
was  a  drab  Court ;  trade  was  suffering.  "  We 
are  not  getting  enough  for  our  money."  Radical 

1  The  "  Times,"  January  3,  1911. 


78          MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

speakers  and  writers,  with  a  fine  display  of  in- 
dignation, taunted  the  Queen  with  her  parsimony, 
and  accused  her  of  hoarding  the  money  with  which 
the  taxpayers  supplied  her.  She  had  invested 
£1,000,000  in  ground-rents  in  the  City.  It  was 
useless  for  Sir  Henry  Ponsonby  to  deny  this  fable. 
"  The  Queen  buries  herself  in  the  Highlands ; 
we  see  nothing  of  her."  This,  unfortunately,  was 
true ;  and  the  most  was  made  of  it  by  the  cavillers 
and  carpers.  The  Queen  was  unpopular — no 
doubt  of  it.  "She  ought  to  abdicate."  "She 
does  not  even  open  Parliament." 

In  February  1889  three  facts  naturally  pre- 
sented themselves  for  consideration  by  those  whose 
thoughts  were  not  exclusively  occupied  with  social 
frivolities.  I  summed  them  up  thus  : 

"  (1)  Parliament  is  to  be  opened  by  Royal 
Commission  instead  of  by  the  Sovereign ;  (2) 
the  Queen  leaves  England  for  the  southernmost 
point  of  the  South  of  France,  on  a  day  as  yet  un- 
fixed, in  the  first  week  of  the  coming  month  ;  and 
(3)  the  Prince  of  Wales,  dreading  the  Ides  (or,  at 
least,  the  winds)  of  March,  has  betaken  himself  to 
Cannes,  there  to  enjoy  himself  under  the  blue  sky 
of  the  South  and  by  the  blue  waters  of  the 
Mediterranean.  I  shall  not,  I  presume,  be  accused 
of  disloyalty  if  I  say,  as  the  leading  journals  have 
said  so  often,  that  the  Queen  makes  a  great  mistake 
in  refusing  to  take  the  opportunity  afforded  her 
session  after  session  of  showing  herself  to  her  loyal 
subjects  on  the  one  day  in  the  year  when  the 
thoughts  of  all  are  drawn  towards  the  High  Court 


RENAISSANCE  OF  THE  MONARCHY     79 

of  Parliament.  It  used  to  be  said  by  the  Radical 
Press  that  Her  Majesty  would  not  open  Parliament 
in  person  as  long  as  Mr.  Gladstone  was  in  office  ; 
that  was  very  much  like  passing  from  the  sublime 
to  the  ridiculous.  For  some  reason  impossible  to 
penetrate,  the  Queen  has  a  rooted  aversion  to 
enacting  the  principal  part  at  the  ceremonies 
attendant  on  the  opening  of  Parliament,  and  thus, 
in  the  eyes  of  the  People,  the  occasion  is  shorn  of 
its  brilliancy  and  loses  more  than  half  the  interest 
which  ought  to  attach  to  it.  The  apathy  with 
which  the  masses  receive  the  stereotyped  announce- 
ment that  Parliament  will  be  opened  by  com- 
mission is  not  a  cheering  sign  of  the  times — far 
from  it.  The  indifference  is  too  evidently  sincere 
not  to  cause  a  feeling  of  apprehension  for  the 
future ;  and,  this  being  so,  it  is  deeply  to  be 
regretted  that  the  Heir- Apparent  has  not  this  year 
been  deputed  to  represent  the  Sovereign  to-morrow 
at  Westminster. 

;c  Now,  putting  other  considerations  aside,  what 
is  one  result  of  the  Queen's  persistent  abstention 
from  the  ceremonies  incidental  to  the  opening  of 
the  two  Houses  of  the  Legislature  ?  Why,  that 
the  Sovereign — it  must  be  unconsciously — plays 
into  the  hands  of  the  Radicals  and  the  discontented 
portions  of  the  community  generally.  '  Oh  !  ' 
say  the  leaders  of  the  would-be  abolitionists  of 
Royalty,  '  here  is  Parliament  opening  again 
without  the  Queen,  whom  we  allow  £385,000  a 
year  for  keeping  out  of  our  sight  !  What  is  the 
use  of  Royalty  if  we  never  see  anything  of  it  ?  ' 


80         MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

Of  course  this  is  a  reductio  ad  absurdum  ;  never- 
theless it  is  the  argument  adduced  in  hundreds 
of  workmen's  clubs  by  leather-lunged  speakers, 
who  find  it  the  easiest  matter  in  the  world  to  take 
captive  the  minds  of  their  hearers  by  means  of 
this  and  other  equally  specious  arguments.  It 
cannot  be  denied,  either,  that  such  contentions 
possess  a  modicum  of  reason  and  commonsense. 
In  all  countries  the  people  like  to  see  that  which 
they  help  to  support ;  and  it  is  therefore  a 
thousand  pities  that  the  Queen  cannot  be  brought 
to  see  how  much  pleasure  would  be  afforded  to 
the  million  were  she  to  make  it  a  rule  to  open 
Parliament  in  person." 

Until  his  accession  the  Radical  papers  impressed 
their  readers  with  the  idea  that  the  Heir- Apparent 's 
attributes  were  solely  those  of  a  pleasure-loving 
Prince  ;  and  at  the  end  of  1891  there  was  com- 
piled a  "  Diary  "  showing  the  social  engagements 
of  the  then  Prince  of  Wales  during  that  year. 
The  marvel  was  that  any  one  individual  could  have 
survived  the  physical  fatigue  resulting  from  so 
resolute  and  determined  a  performance  of  social 
duties,  undertaken  in  order  to  prevent  society 
from  "  falling  into  chaos  and  collapse."  Multiply 
that  one  year  by  forty  years,  and  the  result  might 
well  "  stagger  humanity."  Let  the  "  Diary ' 
speak  for  itself  : 

JANUARY 

l.-Left  Sandringham  to  shoot  with  Baron  Hirsch 
at  Wrotham  Hall,  Norfolk. 


RENAISSANCE  OF  THE  MONARCHY    81 

6.-Returned  to  Sandringham  after  five  days' 
shooting  with  Baron  Hirsch. 

8.-Had  Mr.  Hare's  theatrical  company  down  to 
Sandringham  to  play. 

12. -Arrived   in   London   from   Sandringham   and 
dined  with  Colonel  O.  Montagu. 

13.-Went  to  Newmarket  for  some  shooting. 

16. -Back  to  London ;    dined  at  the  Amphitryon 
Club,  and  went  to  the  Empire  Theatre. 

17.-Returned  to  Sandringham  for  shooting. 
2 6. -Arrived  in  London. 
28.-Returned  to  Sandringham. 

31. -Arrived  in  London.     Attended  the  opening  of 
the  English  Opera  House. 

FEBRUARY 

2. -Lunched  with  the  Duke  and  Duchess  of  Fife. 
To  the  Opera  Comique  in  the  evening. 

3.-To  lunch  with  Count  Kinsky.  To  the  Hay- 
market  Theatre  in  the  evening. 

4.-Presided  at  a  meeting  of  the  Naval  Exhibition, 
and  visited  some  picture  galleries  in  the 
afternoon. 

5. -Returned  to  Sandringham. 

11. -Returned  to  London.     To  the  Lyric  Theatre 
in  the  evening. 

12. -Dined  with  Lord  Dudley  at  the  Amphitryon 
Club. 

13. -To  the  Court  Theatre  in  the  evening. 
14.-To  the  Lyceum  in  the  evening. 

15.-( Sunday)  Gave  a  dinner  to  several  actors  at 

the  Marlborough  Club. 
6 


82          MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

17.-To  Sandown  Park  Races,  and  in  the  evening 
to  a  ball  at  Co  vent  Garden. 

18.-To  the  Opera  Comique  in  the  evening. 

19.-St.  James's  Theatre. 

23,-Lyceum  Theatre. 

24.-To  a  dinner  at  the  Amphitryon  Club. 

25,-Drury  Lane  Theatre. 

27.-Sandown  Park. 

28.-Gave  a   dinner  at   Marlborough   House,   and 
witnessed  Mrs.  Langtry's  new  play. 

MARCH 

1. -Sunday  at  Windsor. 

2. -Returned  to  London,   and  dined  with   Lord 
Carrington. 

3.-To  the  Horse  Show,  and  dined  with  Mr.  Walter 
Gilbey. 

4.-Smoking  Concert  at  the  Amateur  Orchestral 
Society. 

5.-The  Horse  Show,  and  in  the  evening  to  Lyceum. 

6.-Sandown   Park,    and   in   the   evening   to   St. 
James's  Theatre. 

7.-Sandown  Park. 
9.-St.  James's  Theatre. 

lO.-Gave  a  wedding-day  dinner  at  Marlborough 

House. 

14.-Dined  at  the  Athenaeum  Club. 
15.-(Sunday)   To    lunch    with    the    King    of    the 

Belgians. 

18. -Gave  a  dinner  at  Marlborough  House  to  the 
King  of  the  Belgians. 


RENAISSANCE  OF  THE  MONARCHY    83 

19.-Dined  with  Baron  Ferdinand  Rothschild. 
23.-Went  to  Sandringham  for  the  Easter  holidays. 

31. -Came  to  London  for  the  day,  and  dined  with 
several  friends  at  the  Marlborough  Club. 


APRIL 

l.-Back  to  Sandringham  for  the  rest  of  the  Easter 
holidays. 

6.-Came  to  London  from  Sandringham. 

7.-Epsom  Races. 

8. -Epsom,  and  to  the  Princess's  Theatre. 

9.-Sandown  Park.     Dined  with  the  Benchers  of 

the  Middle  Temple. 
lO.-Sandown.     Dined  with  Lord  Calthorpe. 

ll.-Sandown,  and  back  in  the  evening  to  Sand- 
ringham. 

13.-West  Norfolk  Steeplechases. 
14. -Newmarket  till  Thursday. 
1 5  .-Newmarket . 

16. -Newmarket,  and  back  to  London.  Prince  of 
Wales's  Theatre. 

21.-Covent  Garden  Opera. 

22.-Dined  with  the  Dowager  Duchess  of  Marl- 
borough  to  "  send  off  "  Lord  Randolph 
Churchill. 

24.-Naval  Exhibition. 

25.-To  Kingsclere  to  see  his  horses,  and  in  the 
evening  to  the  Opera. 

26.-(Sunday)  Dined  at  the  Garrick  Club  to  meet 
Mr.  Toole. 

27.-Covent  Garden  Theatre. 


84         MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

28.-Newmarket  for  the  Two  Thousand  week. 
2  9. -Newmarket. 
30. -Newmarket. 

MAY 

1. -Newmarket,  and  back  to  London.     The  Opera. 

2. -Opened  the  Naval  Exhibition  and  attended 
the  dinner  of  the  Royal  Academy. 

4. -Dined  with  the  Duchess  of  Manchester. 
6.-Dined  with  the  Queen  at  Buckingham  Palace. 
8.-Kempton  Park.     Opera  at  Co  vent  Garden. 
9.-Kempton.     Covent  Garden  Theatre. 
10. -(Sunday)  Dined  with  Mr.  Arthur  Sassoon. 

ll.-To  Mr.  Sims  Reeves's  farewell  concert  at  the 
Albert  Hall  and  afterwards  to  Lady 
Rothschild's  ball. 

12.-To  Messrs.  Graves's  Picture  Gallery,  and  in  the 
evening  to  the  Opera. 

13.-Suffering  from  influenza. 
14.-Court  Theatre. 

15. -Gave  a  luncheon  at  Marlborough  House,  and 
drove  out  in  the  afternoon, 

16. -Co vent  Garden  Opera. 

17.-To  lunch  with  the  Duke  of  Fife,  and  to  see  his 
new-born  grandchild. 

18.-Horse  Show  at  Islington. 

19.-To  lunch  with  the  Queen  at  Windsor,  and  to 
the  Opera  in  the  evening. 

20.-Dined  with  Mr.  Rose  at  the  Amphitryon  Club. 
21. -Prince  of  Wales's  Theatre. 
23.-Dinner  of  the  1st  Life  Guards. 


RENAISSANCE  OF  THE  MONARCHY    85 

25.-Dinner  of  the  Grenadier  Guards'  Club. 
26.-Epsom. 

27. -To  Epsom  for  the  Derby,  and  gave  the  usual 
dinner  to  the  Jockey  Club. 

28.-Epsom.     Dinner  of  the  10th  Hussars. 
29.-Epsom. 

30.-Dined  with  Lord  Salisbury,  to    celebrate  the 
Queen's  birthday. 


JUNE 

1. -Attended  the  Gumming- Wilson  action. 

2.-Gave  evidence  in  the  action ;  to  the  Opera 
in  the  evening. 

3.-Attended  the  action  in  the  morning  ;  Military 
Tournament  in  the  afternoon  ;  ball  at 
Buckingham  Palace  in  the  evening. 

4.-To  the  Law  Courts  in  the  morning.  Dined 
with  Colonel  Montagu. 

5. -At  the  Law  Courts.     Later  held  a  Levee. 

8. -Ascot  for  the  race  week,  after  attending 
the  Courts. 

9,  10,  11,  and  12.-Ascot. 

13. -To  a  cricket  match  at  Windsor  and  a  water 
party  at  Virginia  Water. 

14. -To  a  military  church  service  at  Windsor  and 
lunch  with  the  2nd  Life  Guards. 

15. -Back   to    London.     Royalty    Theatre    in   the 
evening. 

16.-To  the  Duke  and  Duchess   of  Teck's   silver 
wedding  fete  and  afterwards  to  the  Opera. 

17.-State  concert. 


86         MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

18.-Dined  with  the  Duke  of  Cambridge. 
19.-Sandown  Park.     Dined  with  Lady  Brooke. 

20. -To  Eastbourne  to  lunch  with  Lord  Hartington, 
and  back  to  dine  and  sleep  at  Windsor. 

21. -(Sunday)    Returned     to     London.      Evening 
party  at  Mr.  Alfred  de  Rothschild's. 

22. -Miss   Ponsonby's   wedding.     Dined   with   the 
Russian  Ambassador. 

23.-On  a  visit  to  Lord  Fitzwilliam  for  the  Don- 
caster  Show. 

24.-To  the  Show  at  Doncaster,  and  lunched  there. 
25.-Back  to  London  and  to  the  State  concert. 
26.— Dined  with  Lord  and  Lady  Londonderry. 
28,-Opera  and  Mrs.  Stanhope's  reception. 
29.-Dined  with  the  Duke  and  Duchess  of  Abercorn. 
30,-Newmarket . 

JULY 

1  .-Newmarket. 

2. -Newmarket,  and  then  to  Sandringham. 

3. -Attended  the  sale  of  his  farm  stock,  and  back  to 
London  for  the  Duchess  of  Portland's  ball. 

4. -Met  the  German  Emperor  at  Port  Victoria, 
and  accompanied  him  to  Windsor. 

4  to  8. -At  Windsor  Castle  for  the  wedding 
festivities  of  his  niece. 

8.-Came  to  London,  dined  at  Buckingham  Palace, 
and  attended  the  State  representation  at 
the  Opera. 

9. -Lunched  with  Lord  Londonderry,  gave  a 
garden  party  at  Marlborough  House,  and 
to  concert  at  Albert  Hall. 


RENAISSANCE  OF  THE  MONARCHY    87 

10,-To  lunch  at  the  Guildhall.  Dined  with  the 
Duke  of  Cambridge,  and  to  State  ball. 

11. -Lunched  at  the  German  Embassy.  Attended 
Volunteer  Review  at  Wimbledon,  and 
dined  at  the  Crystal  Palace. 

12.-To  Hatfield,  on  a  visit  to  Lord  Salisbury. 

13.-Returned  to  London,  dined  with  Lady  Dudley, 
and  saw  the  German  Emperor  off  for 
Scotland. 

14,  15,  and  16.-At  Newmarket. 

17.~Returned  to  London.  To  the  Savoy  Theatre 
in  the  evening,  and  to  the  Duchess  of 
Westminster's  ball. 

18.-To  the  wedding  of  the  Hon.  Julia  Stonor,  and 
afterwards  to  Waddesdon  on  a  visit  to 
Baron  Ferdinand  de  Rothschild. 

20.-Back  to  London,  and  to  the  Countess  Cadogan's 
dinner  and  ball. 

22.-To  dinner  and  ball  at  Lord  Alington's. 

23. -Gave  a  dinner  at  Marlborough  House  to  the 
Prince  of  Naples. 

24.-To  a  dinner  and  ball  at  Madame  de  Falbe's. 

25.-To  Luton  Hoo  on  a  Saturday  to  Monday  visit 
to  Madame  de  Falbe. 

27.-To  Goodwood,  on  a  visit  to  the  Duke  of  Rich- 
mond, for  the  races. 

28,  29,  30,  and  31. -At  Goodwood. 


AUGUST 

l.-Left  Goodwood  for  Cowes. 

4.-To  the  dinner  of  the  Royal  Yacht  Squadron 
at  the  Cowes  Club. 


88         MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

4  to  10. -At  Cowes  for  the  regatta  week. 

lO.-To  London  for  the  opening  of  the  Health 
Congress,  and  to  dine  with  Sir  Andrew 
Clark. 

13.-Back  to  Portsmouth  and  the  Isle  of  Wight. 

14.-Returned  to  London  and  attended  the 
Shaft esbury  Theatre. 

15.-To  Paris  by  the  Club  train. 

16. --(Sunday)  Left  Paris  for  Homburg. 

17.-Stopped  at  Frankfort,  and  thence  to  Hom- 
burg for  three  weeks. 

SEPTEMBER 

9. -Returned  to  London. 
lO.-To  the  Comedy  Theatre  in  the  evening. 
11. -Left  London  for  Sandringham. 

14. -Returned  to  London  and  attended  Lord 
Dudley's  wedding,  and  to  the  Avenue 
Theatre  in  the  evening. 

15. -Left  for  Scotland. 

OCTOBER 

8. -After  three  weeks   in   Scotland,   returned  to 
London. 

9.-Savoy  Theatre. 

lO.-To  Sandringham  from  Saturday  to  Monday. 
12.-To  Newmarket  for  a  day's  shooting. 
13.-At  the  races  for  four  days,  till  the  16th. 

16.-Returned  to  London  after  the  races.  Criterion 
Theatre. 

17. -Opera  Comique. 


RENAISSANCE  OF  THE  MONARCHY     89 

19.-Lunched  at  the  Veterinary  College,  Camden 
Town.  Italian  Opera. 

20,-Left  London  on  a  visit  to  Lord  Cadogan  in 
Suffolk. 

25. -Returned  to  London,  and  dined  at  the  Naval 
Exhibition. 

27.-Left  London  to  shoot  near  Newmarket,  and 
then  on  to  Newmarket  for  the  races. 

30.-After  four  days'  racing  at  Newmarket,  left 
for  Easton  Lodge  on  a  visit  to  Lord  and 
Lady  Brooke. 

31. -Over  to  Elsenham  to  see  Mr.  Walter  Gilbey's 
horses. 

NOVEMBER 

2. -Left  Easton  Lodge  for  Sandringham,  to  see 
what  damage  the  fire  had  done.  Back 
to  London.  Gaiety  Theatre. 

3.-Dined  with  the  Duke  of  Fife.  Comedy 
Theatre. 

4.-To  Windsor  for  pheasant-shooting,  and  to 
Covent  Garden  Opera  in  the  evening. 

5.-Shaftesbury  Theatre. 

6.-Shooting  at  Windsor.  Terry's  Theatre  in  the 
evening. 

7.-To  Sandringham,  where  he  entertained  a 
birthday  party. 

9. -Celebrated  his  fiftieth  birthday  at  Sandringham. 

13.-After  a  week  at  Sandringham,  returned  to 
London. 

14. -In  London. 

15. -Dined  with  Mr.  Christopher  Sykes. 


90         MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

16  to  18. -Detained  at  Marlborough  House  by  his 
son's  illness. 

19.-To     Goupil's     picture     galleries.      Dined     at 
Amphitryon  Club. 

21. -To  the  wedding  and  breakfast  of  Lady  Sarah 
Spencer  Churchill  with  Mr.  Wilson. 

23.-Victoria  Picture  Gallery.     Lunched  with  Lady 
Dorothy  Nevill. 

24,-Left  London  for  Luton  to  shoot  with  M.  de 
Falbe. 

28. -Returned   to    London,    and    dined    with    Mr. 
Alfred  de  Rothschild. 

29.-Dined  with  the  Duchess  of  Manchester. 

30. -Shooting    in    Windsor    Park.     Dined    at    the 
Amphitryon. 

DECEMBER 

l.-Gave  a  luncheon  at  Marlborough  House  for 
the  Princess  of  Wales's  birthday,  and 
dined  with  the  Duke  of  Cambridge. 

2.-St.  James's  Theatre. 

3.-Newmarket  for  three  days'  shooting. 

5.-Returned  to  London.     Royal  Italian  Opera. 

7.-To  the  Cattle  Show,  and  gave  a  family  luncheon 
party  at  Marlborough  House  for  his  eldest 
son's  betrothal. 

8. -To  the  wedding  of  Prince  Pless  and  Miss 
Cornwallis  West ;  Savoy  Theatre  in  the 
afternoon  ;  dined  with  Mr.  Henry  Petre. 

9. -School  of  Music  Concert,  and  dinner  of  Civil 
Servants  at  the  Hotel  Metropole. 

10. -To  Sevenoaks  for  shooting  with  Sir  H.  James. 


RENAISSANCE  OF  THE  MONARCHY    91 

11. -Avenue  Theatre. 

12.-Shaftesbury  Theatre. 

14.-On  a  visit  to  the  Queen  at  Windsor  Castle. 

15. -To  Welbeck  Abbey  on  a  visit  to  the  Duke  of 
Portland. 

18.-After  three  days'  shooting  at  Welbeck,  returned 
to  London. 

19. -Dined  with  Lord  and  Lady  Brooke. 
21. -St.  James's  Theatre. 

22. -Stock    Exchange   Smoking   Concert,    Princes' 
Hall,  Piccadilly. 

23.-Criterion  Theatre. 

This  record  of  the  ornamental  work  done  by 
the  Prince  of  Wales  in  one  well-remembered  year 
was  intended  to  discredit  him  in  the  eyes  of 
the  public.  It  was  published  by  the  "  Weekly 
Dispatch,"  then  owned  by  Mrs.  Ashton  Dilke, 
sister-in-law  of  Sir  Charles,  to  whose  valuable 
"  notebooks  "  Sir  Sidney  Lee  has  told  us  he  was 
privileged  to  have  access  when  preparing  his  monu- 
mental Memoir.  This  choice  morsel  of  information 
was  sent  in  all  good  faith  by  the  Editor  of  the 
Dictionary  to  the  "  Daily  Telegraph,"  which  ad- 
duced it  as  an  additional  proof  of  the  Diction- 
ary's gaucheries. 

The  effect  of  the  publication  of  the  Diary 
was  the  reverse  of  what  its  compilers  had  antici- 
pated. The  classes  addressed  by  Mrs.  Dilke's 
paper  were  mostly  traders,  great  and  small — 
London  tradespeople  and  their  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  "  hands  "  in  particular.  All  these, 


92         MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

and  all  in  a  similar  position  in  the  country,  knew 
that  the  more  the  Prince  Leader  of  Society  went 
about  the  better  it  was  for  trade — trade  as 
represented  by  themselves.  And  they  regarded 
the  Diary,  not  as  an  indictment  of  the  Prince  of 
Wales,  but  as  an  index  of  the  good  he  was  doing 
by  spending  money  on  ^ational^  pleasures  and 
causing  others  to  spend  it  on  entertainingTiimseH 
and  tKFTriends  of  both  hosts~~ahd  guests!  The 
^Prince,  alwayjTcheery  and"  deBonair7"was i  keeping 
things  going  on  behalf  of  the  Queen,  of  whom 
Dr.  Norman  Macleod,  speaking  at  Glasgow  in 
1871,  said  : 

I  have  never  seen  her  in  better  spirits  and 
stronger  in  mind  than  she  is  at  present.  At  the 
same  time  I  am  far  from  saying  that  she  has 
recovered  her  strength  so  as  to  be  able  to  do  more 
than  she  is  doing  ;  indeed  I  am  certain  that  the 
Queen  has  done  all  that  her  nervous  energy 
permits  her  to  do.  .  .  .  It  is  a  cruel  and  cowardly 
injustice  the  manner  in  which  Her  Majesty  is  often 
criticised  when  she  cannot  make  any  reply,  but 
must  endure  in  silence. 

This  might  have  been  said  with  equal  justice 
of  the  Prince  in  1891. 

Mr.  Disraeli,  also  in  1871,  testified  to  the 
Queen's  habits  of  strict  attention  to  all  public 
business  that  claimed  her  supervision,  although, 
he  said,  she  was  "  physically  incompetent  for  the 
discharge  of  mejre  ceremnnjfl.1  rhrhies." 

She  delegated  those  duties  to  the  Prince  of 
Wales.  How  scrupulously  he  performed  them 


RENAISSANCE  OF  THE  MONARCHY     93 

the  Diary  shows,  although  only  partly.  Can 
any  one  believe  that  the  Queen  did  not  appreciate 
the  efforts  of  the  Prince  (and  the  Princess)  to 
replace  her  by  discharging  the  "  ceremonial  duties  " 
for  which,  in  Disraeli's  words,  she  was  "  physically 
incompetent "  ?  To  put  it  plainly,  from  his 
marriage  in  1863  until  the  Queen's  death  in  1901 
the  Monarchical  situation  was  saved  over  and 
over  again  by  the  activities  of  the  Prince  of  Wales 
and  the  fascination  of  his  consort. 

We  were  told  that  the  Prince  had  often  wished 
to  find  relief  in  politics  from  the  "  sentry-go  "  of 
exhibition  openings,  hospital  foundation-layings, 
and  the  like  ;  and  a  writer  who  on  some  previous 
occasions  had  not  laid  himself  open  to  the  charge 
of  flattery  sagaciously  remarked  : 

From  time  to  time  the  Prince  struggled  against 
the  soul-deadening  routine  of  his  Royal  existence, 
but  when  he  ventured  to  make  a  way  for  himself 
he  was  politely  but  firmly  thrust  back.  The 
visit  to  India  was  one  welcome  break  in  the 
dreary  round,  and  his  appointment  as  one  of  the 
Royal  Commissioners  on  the  Housing  of  the  Poor 
was  another.  How  on  earth  her  Majesty's  Ministers 
ever  mustered  up  courage  sufficient  to  permit 
the  Heir- Apparent  to  touch,  be  it  only  with  so 
much  as  one  of  his  finger-tips,  the  responsible 
duties  and  burdens  of  citizenship  remains  to  this 
day  a  mystery.  Mr.  Gladstone  was  then  Prime 
Minister,  which  may  account  for  it,  and  it  deserves 
to  be  noted  as  a  welcome  and  bold  innovation, 
which,  if  it  had  been  followed  up,  might  have 
redeemed  everything.  Unfortunately,  it  was  not 
followed  up.  The  Prince  attended  all  the  sittings, 


94         MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

went  "slumming"  in  the  East  End,  invited  the 
Commissioners  to  Sandringham,  and  in  short  did 
his  first  commission  excellently  well.  But  never 
again  was  he  permitted  to  share  in  anything 
serious. 

At  the  time  referred  to,  the  Labour  Commis- 
sion was  to  the  fore,  and  it  was  known  that  all 
pertaining  to  the  labour  question,  the  housing  of 
the  poor,  and  similar  questions  had  always 
occupied  the  closest  attention  of  the  Heir- 
Apparent  : 

It  is  an  open  secret  that  the  Prince  of  Wales 
was  very  anxious  to  serve  on  the  Labour  Com- 
mission. He  had  served  on  the  Commission  on 
the  Housing  of  the  Poor,  and  he  saw  no  reason 
why  he  should  not  be  a  member  of  the  Commis- 
sion which  owed  its  existence  to  Sir  John  Gorst. 
But  for  reasons  of  State  the  Ministers  of  the  Crown 
snubbed  the  Prince,  and  excluded  him  in  the  same 
arbitrary  fashion  as  they  excluded  women  from 
the  list  of  their  Commissioners.  It  is  easy  to  see 
many  good  reasons  why  a  prudent  Prime  Minister 
might  deem  it  undesirable  to  sandwich  the  Prince 
between  Mr.  Livesey  and  Tom  Mann.  But  it  is 
equally  easy  to  see  that  if  the  Prince  had  occupied 
a  seat  on  the  Commission  it  would  have  brought 
him  into  close  contact  with  the  stern  realities  of 
existence  among  the  poor,  and  would  have  given 
him  opportunities  of  which  he  would  have  been 
able  to  avail  himself  to  use  his  undoubted  abilities 
in  the  service  of  the  nation. 

An  ideal  position  for  the  Prince  would  have 
been  that  of  Viceroy  of  Ireland,  which  (the  Princess 


RENAISSANCE  OF  THE  MONARCHY    95 

concurring)  he  was  willing  and  ready  to  accept. 
Was  it  the  Queen  who  blocked  the  way  ? 

The  good  time  was  long  coming  ;  but  it  came, 
and  the  periodical  "  openings  "  of  Parliament  by 
the  King  brought  home  to  the  people  the  great 
truth  that  Monarchical  decadence  had  given  place 
to  Monarchical  vitality — a  vitality  which  remains 
unimpaired,  and  is  being  greatly  strengthened  by 
the  Fifth  of  the  Georges. 

It  was  a  sumptuous  pageant  which,  in  the 
last  reign,  successive  springs  brought  before  our 
gaze — a  pageant  such  as  we  cannot  feast  our  eyes 
upon  in  any  other  of  the  world's  capitals  :  a  pageant 
of  gold  and  purple,  of  ermine  and  plumes,  of  richly  - 
caparisoned  horses,  of  bravely-clad  servitors,  of 
officials  in  tabards,  of  all  the  panoply  of  State. 
That  long  cortege  of  the  Sovereigns  wending  its 
way  to  Old  Westminster  to  speed  the  Lords  and 
Commons  on  their  laborious  task — what  a  grandiose 
panorama !  We  crane  our  necks  to  watch  its 
passage  once  again,  for  there  is  always  about  it 
something  fresh  and  quaint — something  which  we 
do  not  remember  to  have  seen  last  year,  or  the 
year  before,  or  a  score  of  years  ago.  The  State 
coach  was  !t  drawn  by  eight  cream-coloured 
horses  " — oh,  that  delightful  old  cliche,  how  often 
have  we  not  read  it !  The  chroniclers  revel  in 
describing  it  all,  as  well  they  may.  The  artist 
limns  it  as  deftly  as  of  yore,  and  that  modern 
creation,  the  snapshotter,  glides  through  the  serried 
ranks  of  citizens,  and  guards  of  honour,  and  files 
of  mounted  police,  and  constables  on  foot,  exulting, 


96         MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

doubtless,  in  the  triumph  of  the  unobtrusive  little 
box  of  tricks  over  the  antiquated  pencil  and 
notebook,  held  with  numbed  fingers,  while  often 
the  snowflakes  are  falling  or  the  clouds  are  dis- 
charging their  deluges.  And  so  one  picture 
passes. 

Then  the  panorama  shows  us  Victoria  Tower, 
where  the  "  setting  down  "  is  performed.  With 
slow  steps,  and  stately,  goes  the  King,  fresh  from 
Paris — as  cheerful  of  face,  as  radiant,  as  debonair 
as  we  were  wont  to  see  him  ere  he  had  "  come  to 
forty  year."  The  incarnation  of  humour,  which 
he  cannot  disguise  under  the  mask  of  decorous 
gravity — such  is  our  Royal  Master,  Edward  the 
Seventh.  And  in  the  Royal  Lady  have  we  not 
the  incarnation  of  grace  and  the  quintessence  of 
beauty?  Even  so.  ...  Here  are  ,the  Great 
Officers  of  State,  proudly  conducting  the  Sovereigns 
up  the  staircase  to  the  Robing  Room,  into  which 
no  curious  eyes  may  peer.  There  pass  before  our 
dazzled  vision  the  Pursuivants,  Heralds,  Equerries- 
in- Waiting,  Gentlemen  Ushers,  Grooms-in- Waiting, 
Gentleman  Usher  to  the  Robes,  Comptroller  and 
Treasurer  of  the  Royal  Household,  the  King's 
Private  Secretary,  Keeper  of  the  Privy  Purse, 
Norroy  King  of  Arms,  Gentleman  Usher  of  the 
Black  Rod,  Garter  Principal  King  of  Arms,  Earl 
Marshal,  and  Lord  Great  Chamberlain. 

Comes  the  Sword  of  State — mighty  emblem  of 
power  ! — borne  in  front  of  the  Sovereign  by  a 
Peer,  as  a  rule  a  member  of  the  Government ;  and 
then  a  gay  cohort — Lady  of  the  Bedchamber, 


Photo} 


QUEEN  ALEXANDRA. 


RENAISSANCE  OF  THE  MONARCHY     97 

Mistress  of  the  Robes,  Woman  of  the  Bedchamber, 
Master  of  the  Horse,  Lord  Steward,  Lord-in- 
Waiting  to  the  King,  Queen's  Lord  Chamberlain, 
Pages  of  Honour,  Captain  of  the  Yeomen  of  the 
Guard,  Gold  Stick,  Captain  of  the  Corps  of  Gentle- 
men at  Arms,  Gentleman  Usher  of  the  Sword  of 
State,  Field  Officer  in  Brigade  Waiting,  Silver 
Stick  in  Waiting ;  and  the  splendid  procession 
closes  with  the  appearance  of  the  Officers  of  the 
Yeomen  of  the  Guard,  that  historic  guard  known 
to  all  and  sundry  of  the  lieges  as  the  Beefeaters. 

The  blare  of  trumpets  stirs  the  blood  and 
quickens  the  imagination  the  while  the  Imperial 
cortege  passes,  with  measured  tread  and  slow, 
through  the  Royal  Gallery,  crowded,  but  not 
uncomfortably,  by  eight  hundred  favoured  mortals  ; 
then  traverses  the  Prince's  Chamber,  and  so  into 
the  great  gilded  Chamber  of  the  Peers,  where  the 
mellow  light  falls  upon  beautiful  women,  re- 
splendent garb,  and  jewels,  and  plumes.  Am- 
bassadors and  Ministers  mingle  among  Right 
Reverend  prelates,  and,  between  the  Ministerial 
and  the  Opposition  benches,  lo  !  "  the  Judges 
all  ranged,  a  terrible  show  !  ':  They  cast  furtive 
glances  around,  and  murmur  in  low  tones  to  one 
another,  do  these  lights  of  the  Law,  and  who  shall 
say  what  grim  jokes  they  crack  amidst  all  this 
glitter  and  gorgeousness,  if  but  to  relieve  the 
tedium  of  the  long  wait  ?  Peeresses  and  their 
daughters — any  number  of  them — make  a  bright 
picture ;  here  and  there  some  splendidly-apparelled 
grandes  dames  find  the  spectacle  a  trifle  tiring, 
7 


98         MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

for  they  have  seen  it  so  often  that  the  gilt  has 
vanished  from  the  gingerbread. 

Now  on  the  throne  the  King  has  taken  his 
place.  Now  Alexandra  Regina  is  in  her  chair  of 
State,  to  her  consort's  left.  On  the  steps  the 
Cap  of  Maintenance  is  borne  by  this  Peer,  the 
Sword  of  State  by  that  one.  Edward  the  King, 
through  the  Lord  Great  Chamberlain,  commands 
Black  Rod  to  summon  the  faithful  Commons  to 
attend  him  in  the  House  of  Peers.  There  is  a 
wait.  We  know  what  is  happening.  As  the 
portentous  news  reaches  the  members  of  the 
Lower  House  (where  they  are  doing  nothing  in 
particular)  the  doors  are  hastily  closed  and  locked. 
Black  Rod  delivers  the  legendary  three  taps  at 
the  portal,  which  summons  operates  as  an  "  open 
sesame."  .  .  .  He  advances  to  the  Table  with  a 
profound  obeisance,  twice  repeated,  and,  some- 
times boldly,  sometimes  with  no  inconsiderable 
trepidation,  speaks  his  little  speech  :  ' '  Mr.  Speaker, 
— The  King  commands  this  honourable  House  to 
attend  His  Majesty  immediately  in  the  House  of 
Peers." 

And  then  ?  Deign  to  look  yet  once  again  on 
the  painted  strip  of  canvas,  and  you  will  observe 
the  rush  of  the  Commons  to  the  "  other  place," 
the  hush  which  comes  over  all,  the  regal  form 
standing,  and  the  reading,  in  resonant,  clear 
tones,  of  the  King's  Speech.  It  is  all  over.  The 
glittering  pageant  becomes  a  dissolving  view ; 
and  the  rest  is — newspaper  ! 

Once  more  !     Once  more  music  is  in  the  air 


RENAISSANCE  OF  THE  MONARCHY     99 

and  sunshine  in  the  sky,  and  the  great  doors  of 
the  Palace  of  Westminster  are  thrown  open  for 
the  representation  of  the  great  national  drama 
of  Parliament.  And  once  again  (January  1908) 
we  are  in  the  Mall,  shorn  of  much  of  its  leafy  glory, 
but  beautified  and  modernised,  transformed  by 
the  Ruler's  wand  into  the  grandest  boulevard  in 
Europe.  It  is  Processional  Road  now,  and  under 
the  white-flecked  blue  canopy,  in  a  blaze  of  winter 
sunshine,  King  and  Queen  pass  between  two 
living  walls.  They  have  come  forth,  once  more, 
to  open  Parliament.  Hold  high  your  babes,  ye 
mothers,  for  their  eyes  to  fall  upon  the  fairest  of 
womankind,  the  mightiest  of  men — Alexandra 
Queen  and  Edward  King,  Seventh  of  his  name.— 

Rex  est  qui  metuit  nihil ; 
Rex  est  qui  cupit  nihil — 

a  King  who  fears  nothing,  a  King  who  desires 
nothing.  Seneca's  words  might  well  be  graven 
on  his  shield.  And  so  they  pass  in  the  gold  chariot, 
and  the  red  and  the  white  plumes  nod,  and  the 
steel  weapons  flash,  and  the  resetted  Yeomen, 
with  their  halberds,  proud  of  mien,  close  round 
the  Sovereigns.  Much  to  be  envied  are  all  who 
see  this  superb  picture  for  the  first  time.  It  lingers 
in  the  cells  of  memory  like  a  beautiful  dream. 

Now  we  are  in  the  Palace  of  St.  Stephen  itself, 
and  the  gorgeous  spectacle  dazzles  us  to-day  as 
it  stupefied  us  by  its  colour  in  the  years  that  are 
gone — the  years  when  the  Sovereign's  appearances 
were  sadly  fitful.  The  corridors  are  ablaze  with 


100       MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

uniforms  ;  Peeresses  in  sweeping  trains,  bejewelled, 
radiant  (some)  in  beauty;  here  is  a  Pursuivant, 
there  a  Herald  ;  here  are  Lords-in- Waiting,  Court 
officials  of  every  grade ;  Field  -  Marshals  and 
Generals,  Lord  Chancellor's  secretaries,  jostling 
Peers  in  scarlet  robes  and  ermine  collars ;  the 
Archbishops,  in  scarlet  and  capes  of  ermine ; 
Judges,  some  in  scarlet  and  white,  others  in  black 
and  gold ;  and  Ambassadors  and  Ministers,  in 
gold  and  in  silver  embroidered  coats  :  like  the 
glittering  pieces  of  a  kaleidoscope,  shaken  up  by 
children's  tiny  hands.  You  gaze  upon  it  with 
bewildered  look,  until  a  feeling  of  vertigo  creeps 
insensibly  over  you  and  reduces  your  thinking 
powers  to  nothingness.  You  are  glad  to  see  a 
grey  stone  wall  before  you  for  a  change  ! 

Fortunate  for  you  should  you  be  placed  in 
one  of  the  galleries,  for  then  you  will  see  a  sight 
not  to  be  paralleled  in  any  Parliament  House  in 
the  world.  This  is  not  to  say  that  at  Rome,  and 
Madrid,  and  Vienna,  and  St.  Petersburg  there  are 
no  scenes  of  splendour — far  from  it.  But  here,  at 
Westminster,  there  is  about  this  historic  function 
a  certain  solidity  which  makes  it  unique.  Call  this 
insular,  call  it  chauvinistic,  call  it  anything  you 
will ;  but  there  it  is,  and  none  know  it  better  than 
those  who  have  witnessed  all  the  spectacles  which 
the  capitals  furnish  year  in  year  out.  There  is 
King  Edward  himself  to  symbolise  it  :  a  living 
picture  of  power,  and  gravity,  and  grace,  and — I 
dare  to  say  it — stolidity.  None  could  better 
play  the  part  He  enters  the  Chamber  leading 


RENAISSANCE  OF  THE  MONARCHY     101 

the  peerless  Lady  by  the  hand.  Bareheaded,  he 
advances  through  a  multi-coloured  human  hedge 
in  his  crimson  velvet  gold-laced  robe  and  flowing 
ermine  mantle,  the  white-plumed  Field-Marshal's 
hat  in  his  left  hand.  Anon  the  robe  is  thrown 
back,  revealing  the  scarlet  uniform  and  the  Garter 
ribbon.  Queen  Alexandra  is  a  vision  of  splendour  ; 
the  corsage  glittering  with  the  jewelled  insignia  of 
her  Orders  ;  the  swan-like  neck  decked  with  pearls 
— a  rope  of  them.  The  Gentleman  Usher  to  the 
Robes  performs  his  function,  and  then  we  hear  the 
King  say,  in  a  tone  at  once  dignified  and  familiar, 
"  My  Lords,  pray  be  seated,"  and  those  near 
enough  to  catch  the  inflection  note  the  trill  of 
the  r's. 

The  imposing  figure  immediately  to  the  Sove- 
reign's right  is  that  of  the  Lord  Chancellor,1  whom 
one  remembers  in  and  about  the  Temple  long  years 
before  he  had  dreams  of  the  Woolsack,  when,  as  yet, 
briefs  were  not  too  plentiful,  and  when  the  daily 
lunch — coffee,  roll,  and  butter,  sixpence — was  at 
"  Groom's."  Now  he  is  bravely  clad  in  a  Baron's 
robes,  and  on  his  head  is  the  Chancellor's  whity- 
grey  wig.  There,  close  alongside  the  Sovereigns, 
is  Lord  Crewe,  with  the  Imperial  Crown  of  gold 
and  diamonds,  the  "  cap  "  of  dull  purple.  There, 
Lord  Winchester  holds  the  crimson-purple  Cap  of 
Maintenance,  on  a  short  staff.  The  Earl  Marshal 
stands  at  the  foot  of  the  Throne — a  sympathetic 
personality ;  the  one  man  who  scorns  gloves. 

1  Lord  Loreburn,  who  was  succeeded  by  Lord  Haldane. 


CHAPTER    V 

THE   "  FIRST   GENTLEMAN  "    ABROAD 

Circumstances  have  imposed  upon  the  Prince  of  Wales  the 
crushing  duties  of  a  Sovereign,  and  he  has  carried  them  out 
with  honour  and  devotion.  More  than  one  institution  owes  its 
existence  to  the  interest  taken  in  it  by  the  first  gentleman  in 
England.1 

Life  is  composed  of  duties,  and  in  the  due,  punctual,  and 
truthful  performance  of  those  duties  the  true  Christian,  the  true 
soldier,  and  the  true  gentleman  is  recognised.  To  the  servants 
and  those  below  you  you  will  always  be  courteous  and  kind, 
remembering  that,  by  having  engaged  to  serve  you  in  return  for 
certain  money  payments,  they  have  not  surrendered  the  dignity 
which  belongs  to  them  as  brother  men  and  Christians.2 

The  King  goes  touring  about,  about, 

With  his  comely  face  and  his  jovial  smile ; 

You  hear  the  Foreigners'  soulful  shout, 
"  O,  linger  with  us  a  while,  a  while, 
If  only  a  little  while ! 

A  King  of  warrant,  a  King,  a  King ! 

We'll  give  him  welcome  if  he'll  but  come, 

For  he's  the  Monarch  to  make  things  hum — 

The  King,  the  runabout  King ! " 

1  Mr.  Gladstone. 

2  Memorandum  written  by  Queen  Victoria  for  the  Prince  of 
Wales  on  his  seventeenth  birthday  (1858),  quoted  by  Lord  Ports- 
mouth at  the  unveiling  of  a  statue  to  King  Edward,  at  Tiverton, 

Devon,  May  23,  1912. 

102 


THE  "  FIRST  GENTLEMAN  "  ABROAD    103 

So  he  goes  to  Paris — he  gladly  goes ; 

They  joy  to  see  him ;   he  likes  them,  too. 
Wherever  he  travels  the  money  flows, 

And  he  bids  all  a  How-d'ye-do,  d'ye  do? 

He  bids  them  a  How-d'ye-do? 
A  King  of  warrant,  a  King,  a  King! 
He  knew  his  Paris  this  long  ago — 
Tell  me,  sirs,  what  he  doesn't  know, 
The  King,  the  runabout  King! 

To  Biarritz  now ;   make  way,  make  way ! 

Oh,  the  furbishing  up  before  he  appears! 
The  men  bow  low,  and  the  riddles  play, 

And  the  ladies  beam,  the  dears,  the  dears! 

The  native  and  foreign  dears ! 
A  King  of  warrant,  a  King,  a  King ! 
"Where  is  the  motor-car?     Bring  it  out — 
His  Majesty's  coming,"  you  hear  them  shout — 
The  King,  the  runabout  King! 

The  good  ship's  waiting  across  the  sea : 
Toulon !    Toulon !    is  the  cry  this  morn. 

"  The  Queen  is  calling  for  me,  for  me ! " 
And  Biarritz  looks  forlorn,  forlorn — 
No  wonder  it  looks  forlorn! 

A  King  of  warrant,  a  King,  a  King ! 

He  says  to  the  captain,  "  Full  steam  ahead 

For  Cartagena."     They're  painting  it  red 

For  the  King,  the  runabout  King! 

"Where  next,  where  next?"     And  they  make  reply, 
"To  Malta,  an'  it  please  you,  Sire." 

"Well,  hurry  along,  tho'  the  sea  runs  high, 
For  such  is  Our  desire,  desire, 
Tho'  the  waves  mount  higher  and  higher ! " 

A  King  of  warrant,  a  King,  a  King ! 

How  all  Melita  doth  laugh  and  skip — 

Hear  them  giving  a  hip,  hip,  hip 

For  the  King,  the  runabout  King! 


104       MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

A  call  comes  up  from  the  Royal  saloon, 
"Weigh  the  anchor — for  Naples  steer; 

Send  a  e  wireless '  saying  we're  coming  soon — 
Are  those  the  big  guns  I  hear,  I  hear? 
We  surely  can't  be  so  near ! " 

A  King  of  warrant,  a  potent  King — 

See  Victor  Emmanuel  grip  his  hand, 

While  all  around  at  attention  stand 

To  greet  the  runabout  King. 

So,  "  Kolnische  Zeitung,"  stow  your  gab ; 

"Rundschau"  and  "Tageblatt,"  lie  you  down; 
Pin-prick  you  may,  but  you  shall  not  stab 

The  wearer  of  Britain's  Crown,  our  Crown — 

We're  proud  of  our  ancient  Crown. 
A  King  of  warrant,  a  King,  a  King! 
List  to  the  shoutings  of  lusty  throats, 
From  far  Land's  End  unto  John  o'  Groats, 
For  our  King,  our  runabout  King ! — E.  L. 

IN  the  summer  of  1897  I  was  at  Marienbad 
for  a  course  of  the  waters.1  The  place  was  then 
very  small  compared  with  what  it  used  to  be, 
although  from  quite  early  in  the  nineteenth 
century  the  little  spa  had  been  visited  by  sove- 
reigns, princes,  the  high  nobility,  and  the  elite  of 
the  world  of  literature,  including  Goethe,  who  went 
there  three  times  at  the  beginning  of  the  twenties 
of  the  nineteenth  century.  Other  great  men 
repaired  to  the  healing  waters,  which,  combined 
with  the  air  of  the  pine-forests,  gave  them  renewed 
health  and  vigour.  It  was  at  Marienbad  that 
Wagner,  torn  by  the  conflicts  everywhere  going  on 
around  him,  sought  shelter.  Here,  tradition  says, 
he  wrote  the  "  Flying  Dutchman,"  or  "  Tann- 

1  A.  Levetus. 


KING  EDWARD  AFTER  HIS  CURE  AT  MARIENBAD  IN 

From  a  hitherto  unpublished  sketch- 


1904. 


THE  "  FIRST  GENTLEMAN  "  ABROAD     105 

hauser  "  —one  is  not  sure  which — but  no  doubt  he 
did  compose  something  there,  and  the  house  still 
remains  to  tell  us  where  he  lived,  while  "  Goethe 
Haus  "  reminds  us  of  the  visits  of  this  universal 
genius.  Many  English  people  frequented  the  place. 
Every  day  during  his  brief  summer  holiday,  Sir 
Henry  Campbell  -  Bannerman  and  others  were 
seen  sipping  their  waters  on  the  promenade  or 
wandering  in  the  charming  woods. 

The  season  1897  was  an  eventful  one.  The 
Archduke  Ludwig  Victor  had  been  here,  and  the 
excitement  caused  by  his  visit  had  not  subsided 
when  it  was  noised  about  that  a  great  English 
personage  was  coming,  and  that  rooms  had  been 
taken  at  the  Hotel  Klinger  for  him  and  his  suite  : 
a  great  English  lord,  so  it  was  said  :  and  this  fact 
was  confirmed  by  a  lady  of  my  acquaintance  who 
was  obliged  to  give  up  her  rooms,  which  were 
required  for  this  personage.  Just  then  the  English 
papers  were  guessing  where  the  Prince  of  Wales 
was  going  that  year ;  it  was  certain  he  was  not  going 
to  Homburg.  I  put  two  and  two  together,  and 
concluded  that  the  mysterious  personage  who  was 
about  to  reside  at  the  Hotel  Klinger  must  be  the 
Prince  of  Wales.  And  later  I  knew  that  "  Lord 
Renfrew  "  was  indeed  coming. 

The  Prince  came,  I  think,  on  August  11.  By 
that  time,  everybody  in  Marienbad  knew  all 
about  it.  The  visitors  lined  the  streets  to  watch 
his  arrival ;  the  photographers,  amateur  and  pro- 
fessional, were  eager  to  secure  snapshots,  but 
few  were  taken  because  the  authorities  were  in 


106       MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

possession  of  the  coigns  of  vantage.  Who  would 
be  his  doctor  ?  The  Prince  naturally  went  to 
Dr.  Ott,  father  of  the  present  doctor,  who  was,  I 
think,  his  physician,  after  the  second  visit,  the 
senior  having  retired. 

The  Prince  passed  his  days  as  did  the  other 
guests.  In  the  early  morning  he  wandered  up  and 
down  the  promenade,  listening  to  the  music  and 
sipping  his  water.  He  then  either  took  his  bath 
or  wandered  through  the  woods,  breakfasting  at 
one  or  other  of  the  cafes  situated  in  the  woods, 
which  are  so  great  a  feature  of  Marienbad.  He 
was  soon  the  best-known  man  in  Marienbad,  and 
won  the  esteem  of  everybody  with  whom  he  came 
into  contact.  He  distributed  his  favours  equally. 
There  was  hardly  a  cafe  or  restaurant  which  he  did 
not  patronise  at  least  once.  He  went  freely 
among  the  people,  and  passed  as  easily  through 
the  throng  as  the  humblest  of  us.  All  had  got 
accustomed  to  his  presence,  and  curiosity  was 
stilled.  He  did  much  shopping,  buying  hats  at 
Pistl's,  deep-red  roses  from  the  old  women,  em- 
broideries and  fine  linen  at  Fischl's,  the  rendezvous 
for  years  of  all  the  notable  folk  of  every  nation 
who  visited  Marienbad. 

The  renowned  General  the  Marquis  de  Galliffet 
was  a  frequent  visitor  for  very  many  years,  and 
had  often  expressed  a  wish  to  die  in  Marienbad. 
Probably  it  was  this  hero  of  the  cavalry  charges 
at  Sedan  who  persuaded  the  Prince  of  Wales  to 
take  the  Marienbad  waters.  But  they  were  never 
there  together. 


THE  "FIRST  GENTLEMAN"  ABROAD     107 

The  Prince  amused  himself  in  many  ways  ;  for 
shooting  he  was  invited  by  Prince  Richard  Metter- 
nich, then  the  head  of  the  house,  and  his  wife, 
Princess  Melanie  Metternich-Winneburg,  herself 
an  excellent  shot.  Their  seat  was  at  Konigswart, 
a  four  hours'  ramble  through  the  woods  ;  but, 
naturally,  the  Prince  drove.  Here  he  was  a  very 
frequent  guest,  and  the  Prince's  friends  were 
asked  to  meet  him.  Princess  Titi,  only  daughter 
of  the  late  Prince,  is  a  very  fine  violinist,  and 
there  was  much  beautiful  music.  The  only  son, 
now  the  reigning  Prince,  Dr.  Clemens  Metternich, 
and  his  father,  Prince  Richard,  often  visited  our 
Prince  at  the  Hotel  Klinger,  and  accompanied  him 
on  his  drives.  The  Metternichs  had  an  English 
governess,  Miss  Neville,  who  had  been  with  Princess 
Titi  many  years.  The  Prince,  with  his  usual 
courtesy,  paid  some  little  attention  to  the  old  lady. 

A  beautiful  story,  and  a  true  one,  shows  how 
real  a  gentleman  he  was.  One  afternoon  it  was 
decided  that  the  whole  party — Prince  and  Princess 
Metternich,  Princess  Titi,  Prince  Clemens,  and  all 
the  other  guests — should  be  photographed  in  a 
group  on  the  lawn  before  Schloss  Konigswart. 
One  or  two  pictures  had  been  taken  when  the 
Prince  of  Wales  noticed  that  Miss  Neville  was 
absent.  He  requested  his  hostess  to  send  for  her, 
and  so  it  happens  that  Miss  Neville  forms  one  of 
the  group  of  an  excellent  photograph. 

"  Every  Sunday  His  Royal  Highness  attends 
the  English  Church  " — so  it  was  said  in  1897  ;  but 
I  know  he  did  not.  Naturally  the  good  English 


108        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

people  thought  he  ought  to  have  shut  himself  up 
there  for  a  short  time,  instead  of  taking  his  walk 
in  the  woods.  In  later  years  he  went  to  church 
every  Sunday. 

The  visitors  venerated  the  Prince,  and  still 
more  the  King  ;  many  of  them,  after  he  had  left 
Fischl's  shop,  went  in  on  some  pretext  or  other, 
asked  on  which  chair  he  had  sat,  and  made  their 
"  reverences "  before  it.  It  would  have  vexed 
him  had  this  reached  his  ears.  "  Kowtowing  to  an 
empty  chair  !  How  ridiculous  !  "  he  would  have 
said. 

It  was  his  geniality  which  won  all  hearts.  I 
remember  how  surprised  everybody  was  to  hear 
that,  when  he  said  adieu  to  Marienbad  that  first 
time,  he  shook  hands  with  even  the  humblest  of 
those  who  had  served  him — a  gracious  act,  till 
then  unknown  in  Austria,  but  since  happily  fol- 
lowed. With  this  Prince  everything  was  so 
natural ;  that  is  what  all  felt.  He  made  ex- 
cursions to  Karlsbad,  Franzensbad,  the  Premon- 
stratensian  Monastery  at  Tepl,  and  other  places. 
The  whole  of  Marienbad  belongs  to  that  Monastery, 
and  the  mineral  sources  are  under  the  Abbot's 
own  management.  There  is  a  wonderful  library 
there,  with  many  rare  manuscripts,  which  greatly 
interested  the  Prince.  During  his  many  visits  he 
was  a  frequent  guest  at  the  Monastery,  and  with 
the  Abbot  and  some  of  the  monks  he  chatted 
continually.  His  evenings  were  spent  at  the 
theatre,  at  concerts,  or  in  walks  through  the 
woods. 


THE  "  FIRST  GENTLEMAN  "  ABROAD     109 

The  second  time  the  Prince  of  Wales  visited 
Marienbad  was  during  the  Boer  war.  He  could 
not  conceal  his  anxiety,  which  adversely  in- 
fluenced his  cure.  News  was  brought  every  day, 
and  people  realised  that  he  thought  seriously  about 
politics  and  matters  of  state.  In  previous  years 
the  trivialities  and  the  betises  published  in  the 
English  papers  about  the  future  Sovereign  were 
commented  upon,  and  unfortunately  believed,  by 
Continental  peoples,  who,  contrary  to  the  English, 
prided  themselves  on  their  knowledge  of  foreign 
tongues,  and  read  the  English  papers.  It  was 
that  form  of  gossip  which  made  so  many  believe 
that  when  he  ascended  the  throne  he  would  be  a 
roi  faineant,  or  something  like  one.  And  I  re- 
member somebody  telling  me  that  history  would 
repeat  itself  and  we  should  have  another  Richard  n. 
People  had  got  into  a  light  manner  of  speaking 
about  the  Prince  of  Wales  which  was  extremely 
annoying  to  one  who  believed  that,  given  the 
chance,  he  would  prove  his  greatness.  But  the 
Boer  war  presented  the  Prince  in  another  and  a 
better  aspect  to  those  who  had  hitherto  judged 
him  only  from  externals. 

Marienbad  has  become  famous  through  King 
Edward.  After  his  first  visit  he  always  stayed  at 
the  Hotel  Weimar,  which  is  situated  on  the  highest 
point,  and  commands  the  whole  town.  It  is,  more- 
over, in  that  part  which  first  rose,  and  from  the 
beginning  was  patronised  by  the  chief  visitors.  The 
Goethe  Haus  is  next  door  to  it ;  the  Richard 
Wagner  Haus  but  a  few  steps  away.  Then  the 


110       MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

Hotel  Weimar  had  nothing  to  distinguish  it  from 
other  small  hotels  in  Marienbad  ;  now  it  is  a  vast 
establishment,  replete,  as  the  advertisements  say, 
"  with  every  luxury."  The  King's  apartments 
are  still  kept  as  they  were  in  those  days  when 
he  paid  his  annual  visit.  The  hotelier  has  kept 
all  in  order,  and  so  it  is  to  remain. 

But  not  only  has  the  Hotel  Weimar  grown,  but 
the  whole  of  Marienbad;  it  is  very  different  from 
the  tiny  spa,  buried  in  a  nest  of  wooded  hills,  as  I 
first  knew  it  twenty  years  ago.  No  doubt  Marien- 
bad would  have  grown  even  without  the  King's 
visit ;  but  his  visits  have  lengthened  the  season, 
which  formerly  ended  early  in  August,  but  now 
extends  to  September.  His  visits,  moreover,  made 
Marienbad  known  all  over  the  world,  and  brought 
visitors  from  every  part.  Marienbad  has,  then, 
every  reason  to  be  grateful  to  King  Edward.  He, 
too,  was  grateful  to  Marienbad,  and  expressed  his 
intention  to  go  there  every  year  as  long  as  he 
lived.  It  was  on  the  King's  initiative  that  the 
golf  links  were  laid  out,  and  during  his  stay  he 
was  to  be  seen  there  every  afternoon.  He  was 
also  often  at  the  lawn-tennis  matches,  and  always 
gave  a  prize.  The  theatre  has  assumed  quite 
another  aspect  since  the  Prince  of  Wales  first 
visited  it  in  August  1897.  It,  too,  has  an  extended 
season.  At  first  the  usual  performances  were 
given  ;  later  a  "  star  "  was  engaged,  but  the  King 
was  too  great  a  lover  of  the  German  drama  to  be 
content  with  inferior  pieces.  As  soon  as  this  was 
known,  some  of  the  best  plays  were  given,  and 


THE  "  FIRST  GENTLEMAN  "  ABROAD     111 

when  the  Director  found  how  great  an  admirer  of 
Wagner  His  Majesty  was  he  gave  performances 
such  as  had  never  before  been  seen  in  this  little 
theatre.  More  than  once  it  resembled  a  miniature 
Covent  Garden — the  ladies  in  beautiful  toilettes, 
and  wearing  their  treasures  of  jewels  ;  the  men  in 
uniforms.  I  recall  such  a  scene  one  night  when 
the  great  singers  came  over  from  Bayreuth  to  per- 
form before  the  King  acts  from  his  favourite 
Wagnerian  opera.  The  house  was  a  veritable 
theatre  pare. 

Marienbad's  memorial  to  King  Edward,  under 
the  colonnade,  is  a  marble  bust  in  relief,  by  the 
sculptor  Hujer.  During  His  Majesty's  life  a  small 
promenade  was  made  parallel  to  the  great  colon- 
nade. It  is  adorned  with  a  double  plinth,  bearing 
on  its  face  large  bronze  medallions  of  King 
Edward  and  Kaiser  Franz  Josef,  the  work  of  the 
Vienna  sculptor,  Gustav  Gurschner,  to  com- 
memorate the  visit  of  the  Emperor  to  the  King. 
That  meeting  will  go  down  to  posterity  in  the 
history  of  Marienbad.  The  Emperor  had  only 
been  there  once  before — the  year  he  ascended  the 
throne  of  Austria.  He  was  then  accompanied  by 
his  brothers,  Ferdinand  Maximilian  (who  later 
became  Emperor  of  Mexico)  and  Karl  Ludwig. 

It  was  on  Thursday,  August  16,  1904,  that  the 
historical  interview  took  place.  King  Edward 
wore  his  unform  of  an  Austrian  marshal,  with  the 
ribbon  of  the  Order  of  St.  Stefan.  He  awaited 
the  Emperor  on  the  platform  of  the  little  station. 
With  him  were  the  Duke  of  Teck,  Sir  Horace 


112        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

Plunkett,  Ambassador  at  Vienna  ;  Count  Mens- 
dorff,  Austrian  Ambassador  then,  as  now,  in 
London  ;  Count  Coudenhove,  Major- General  Sir 
Stanley  Clarke,  Captain  (now  Sir  Frederick)  Pon- 
sonby,  Mr.  Johnstone  and  Mr.  G.  Rennee,  First 
and  Second  Secretaries  to  the  English  Embassy  in 
Vienna  ;  Count  Trautmannsdorf,  Prince  Metter- 
nich  and  his  son,  Prince  Dr.  Clemens  Metternich ; 
General  Konigswart,  Wenzel,  Freiherr  Holz  von 
Dobaz,  Geheimrat  F.M.L.  Heiligenkreuz,  Carl 
Erwin,  Count  Nostitz-Rieneck,  Carl  Max  Count 
Zedtwitz,  Count  Berchem,  Prince  Jaroslaw  Lobko- 
witz,  Count  Bruno  Zedtwitz,  and  many  other 
Austrian  and  Hungarian  notables.  The  Emperor 
wore  his  uniform  of  an  English  admiral.  The  two 
Monarchs  embraced  and  then  shook  hands  with 
the  members  of  the  suite  and  the  others. 

The  Emperor  remained  twenty  -  four  hours, 
returning  to  Ischl  for  August  18,  where  he 
always  spends  his  birthday.  King  Edward 
gave  a  dinner  at  the  Hotel  Weimar  to  the 
Emperor,  inviting  the  Duke  of  Teck,  Count  Paar, 
General  der  Cavallerie ;  Colonel  Ramel-Dietrich- 
stein,  Hofrat  Dr.  Kerzl,  Count  Coudenhove,  Count 
Mensdorff,  a  favourite  at  our  Court ;  Bezirkshaupt- 
mann  Pezzelin,  Pralat  Gilbert  Helmer,  Sir  Schom- 
berg  McDonnell,  the  Hon.  Sidney  Greville,  the 
Hon.  Allan  Johnstone,  the  Burgomaster,  Dr. 
Nadler;  Dr.  Ernest  Ott,  Mr.  Rennee,  Major- 
General  Sir  Stanley  Clarke,  and  Captain  Ponsonby. 
King  Edward  drew  up  the  menu,  taking  care  to 
order  the  dishes  which  the  Emperor  preferred. 


THE  "  FIRST  GENTLEMAN  "  ABROAD    113 

Before  the  meal  the  Austrian  National  Hymn  was 
played.  After  dinner  came  the  English  Anthem. 
In  the  evening,  Marienbad  was  illuminated,  and 
Emperor  and  King  wandered  about  the  streets 
chatting. 

The  Emperor  stopped  at  the  Villa  "  Lugins- 
land,"  which  was  bequeathed  to  the  town  of 
Marienbad  by  Mr.  Max  Klinger,  brother  of  the 
owner  of  the  "  Klinger  "  when  the  Prince  of  Wales 
stayed  there,  on  condition  that  it  was  to  be  used 
only  for  royal  guests  and  nobles.  The  Emperor 
was  the  first  of  these  sojourners. 

Marienbad  has  to  thank  King  Edward  for  the 
visit  of  the  King  of  Greece  in  August  1903,  when 
the  brothers-in-law  spent  a  very  happy  time 
together. 

In  1906,  the  Prince  (now  King)  of  Bulgaria 
paid  a  visit  to  King  Edward  at  Marienbad ;  and 
again  a  dinner  was  given  by  the  King  in  his  apart- 
ments at  the  Hotel  Weimar,  when  the  following 
were  present  : — Ferdinand  of  Bulgaria,  the  Due 
d' Orleans,  Sir  Henry  Campbell-Bannerman,  General 
Sir  Stanley  Clarke,  Sir  Edward  Goschen,  General 
Markow,  Sir  Sidney  Greville,  Major  Ponsonby, 
Mr.  Ernest  Scott,  of  the  Vienna  Embassy ;  Abbot 
Helmer,  the  Burgomaster,  Dr.  Dietl.  Bezirks- 
hauptmann  Pezzelin,  Dr.  Ernest  Ott,  Corvetten- 
kapitan  Frankl,  and  the  Marquis  de  Soveral. 

In  1907  another  grand  dinner  was  given  by 
the  King  to  the  Grand  Duke  Michael  Alexandro- 
witz,  the  Prince  and  Princess  of  Oldenburg,  the 
Duke  of  Teck,  and  others.  After  dinner  the  whole 

8 


114       MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

party  wandered  in  the  woods  till  they  came  to  the 
Egerlander  Cafe.  On  their  way  they  stopped  at 
the  open-air  atelier  of  Mr.  G.  Pick,  the  well-known 
silhouette-cutter,  who  visits  Marienbad  every  year, 
and  who  had  frequently  cut  out  portraits  of  the 
King,  the  first  time  when  he  was  Prince  of  Wales. 
The  whole  party  were  now  silhouetted  by  Pick. 

Events  were  much  the  same  as  those  noted 
during  all  the  visits  of  the  King.  They  did  not 
change  ;  only  the  people  who  happened  to  be  there 
gave  the  place  another  face.  All  with  whom 
the  King  came  into  contact  say  he  was  a  Man 
first,  and  then  a  King.  But  he  was  always  a 
King  in  the  charm  and  geniality  of  his  manner. 
There  was  something  so  unaffected  about  him, 
particularly  in  his  intercourse  with  those  of  the 
lower  ranks  of  life,  that  everybody  worshipped  him. 

In  1899,  when  the  Prince  of  Wales  was  for  the 
second  time  at  Marienbad,  pneumatic  tyres  were 
very  uncommon.  When  the  Prince  arrived  not 
a  carriage  possessed  them,  and  he  could  not  go 
for  his  drive  in  the  woods.  A  man  called  Paprika 
Schlesinger  (since  dead),  who  had  boot  shops  in 
different  parts  of  Austria,  including  Marienbad, 
was  very  anxious  to  lend  the  Prince  his  carriage, 
which  had  pneumatic  tyres.  As  he  did  not  know 
how  to  distinguish  the  Royal  visitors  from  others, 
he  came  to  me  in  a  great  hurry  and  asked 
me  which  was  the  Prince  of  Wales.  I  pointed  him 
out,  but  no  sooner  had  I  uttered  the  words,  "  the 
Prince  of  Wales,"  than  Schlesinger  dashed  off, 
stopped  before  the  Prince,  and,  with  a  low  bow, 


THE  "  FIRST  GENTLEMAN  "  ABROAD    115 

offered  the  use  of  his  carriage.  The  Prince 
accepted  gladly.  A  day  or  two  afterwards,  at 
Karlsbad,  I  saw  a  photograph  in  Paprika  Schles- 
inger's  shop  window,  labelled  :  "  On  this  day 
the  Prince  of  Wales  drove  in  this  carriage." 

As  the  King  was  walking  on  the  Podhorn  he 
saw  a  veteran,  with  whom  he  entered  into  conver- 
sation. The  old  soldier,  who  did  not  know  to 
whom  he  was  speaking,  explained  the  view  and 
the  points  of  interest.  The  King  asked  him 
about  the  year  "  sixty-six,"  when  the  veteran 
had  fought  at  Koniggratz.  After  a  time  they 
parted,  cordially  shaking  hands,  and  the  King 
invited  him  to  breakfast  next  day  at  the  "  Weimar." 
The  old  man  came,  was  received  as  an  honoured 
guest,  had  breakfast,  and  was  presented  with  a 
new  ribbon  for  his  medal  and  something  more 
substantial. 

One  day  the  King,  accompanied  by  his  dog, 
went  to  visit  Mrs.  Standish  in  her  lodgings  at  the 
Goldener  Falke.  Madame  Du  Bos  was  expected 
that  day,  and  a  large  cake  had  been  prepared, 
cut  in  slices,  but  placed  together  in  form.  The 
rooms  of  these  two  ladies  opened  on  the  same 
balcony,  and  the  windows  were  open.  While  his 
master  was  talking  to  Mrs.  Standish  the  venture- 
some dog  had  a  look  round.  Presently  a  bell 
rang,  cries  were  heard,  "  Der  hund  ist  schlecht " 
("  The  dog  is  ill.  What  is  the  matter  with  him  ? 
He  is  choking  "),  and  all  was  bustle  and  excite- 
ment till  they  found  that  a  piece  of  cake  was 
missing.  The  King's  dog  must  have  stolen  it, 


116        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

and  the  crumbs  had  stuck  in  his  throat.  It  was  a 
painful  moment  for  the  King  and  all  concerned — 
not  forgetting  the  dog. 

The  first  time  King  Edward  went  boar-hunting 
he  was  the  guest  of  the  Archduke  Rudolph.  The 
famous  artist,  Pausinger,  a  great  favourite  of  the 
Archduke,  accompanied  them,  and  painted  a 
picture  of  the  Prince  of  Wales  and  the  Austrian 
Archduke  hunting  in  the  Slavonian  primeval  oak 
forests.  Pausinger  told  me  this  charming  story. 
It  is  inedit,  and  shows  that  Edward  vn.  was  not 
only  a  King,  but,  in  Vambery's  phrase,  a  Man — 
one  with  a  heart  of  gold.  In  the  villages  near  the 
scene  of  the  boar-hunt  the  people  were  unaware 
that  their  Crown  Prince  was  in  the  woods  ;  of 
the  Prince  of  Wales  they  had  never  heard.  After 
the  sport  a  basket  of  provisions,  brought  with 
them  by  the  two  Princes,  was  opened  in  the 
presence  of  several  villagers.  Among  them  was 
a  young  girl,  looking  very  cold  and  pinched.  Our 
Prince  noticed  her  wan  figure,  and,  before  taking 
bite  or  sup  himself,  gave  her  some  sherry  from 
his  flask  and  a  handful  of  his  sandwiches.  Then, 
refilling  the  cup,  he  drank  from  it  without  rinsing 
it  out.  If,  as  a  sardonic  Frenchman  once  wrote, 
"  kings  and  valets  are  made  from  the  refuse  clay 
of  creation,"  Edward  vn.  certainly  did  not  come 
within  that  category. 

In  order  to  do  honour  to  King  Edward  when  he 
reached  Ischl  the  young  girls  spending  the  summer 
there  wore  the  national  costume  still  affected  by 
the  natives  of  the  Salzkammergut,  and,  provided 


THE  "  FIRST  GENTLEMAN  "  ABROAD     117 

with  baskets  of  flowers,  formed  an  espalier, 
through  which  the  Emperor  and  King  walked  to 
the  carriages  waiting  for  them  outside  the  station. 
Their  path  was  strewn  with  flowers.  The  espalier 
was  a  long  one,  for  the  women  of  the  place  and 
their  daughters  were  there,  all  displaying  the 
English  and  Austrian  colours.  There  was  also  a 
gathering  of  British  girls  and  a  few  Australians. 
The  latter  caused  much  discussion  in  the  "  Neue 
Freie  Presse."  Naturally  the  English  corre- 
spondents noted  the  presence  of  the  Australians, 
the  young  girls  of  the  party  being  in  Ischl  national 
costume.  But  the  correspondents  did  not  know 
the  difference  between  Australians  and  Austrians. 
It  was  the  Australian  girls  who  made  an  English 
flag  in  honour  of  the  King,  and  carried  it  proudly 
aloft.  The  actual  facts  were  these :  Some 
Australians  (friends  of  mine)  were  staying  in 
Aussee,  a  beautiful  place  near  Ischl,  about  two 
hours'  railway  journey,  and  we  made  up  our  minds 
to  see  the  King.  The  most  enthusiastic  of  us 
all  was  an  old  lady  from  Melbourne,  Mrs.  Watson, 
who  had  seen  King  Edward  more  than  fifty  years 
previously,  and  naturally  wished  to  see  him  again. 
She  had  gone  to  Australia  more  than  half  a  century 
before,  and  had  never  returned  to  England.  She 
is  now  (1918)  living  in  London.  As  soon  as  we 
knew  that  the  King  was  to  be  there,  we  scoured  all 
the  shops  for  material  to  make  the  flags  which 
we  carried.  They  were  large  ones,  so  that  the 
King  could  not  fail  to  see  them.  I  am  sure  that, 
had  he  known  an  old  lady  was  there  from  Australia, 


118        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

he  would,  in  the  greatness  of  his  heart,  have  spoken 
to  her.  Mrs.  Watson  came  to  Vienna  with  her 
daughter  and  grandchildren,  as  her  granddaughter 
was  to  study  the  violin  under  Professor  Rose. 
Her  name  is  Leila  Doubleday,  and  she  has  since 
made  a  name  as  a  violinist  in  London,  Vienna, 
Berlin,  and  other  cities.  The  other  Australians 
present  included  Miss  Maude  Mary  Puddy,  a 
student  of  Professor  Leschetisky  ;  and  she  too 
has  made  a  reputation  as  a  pianist. 

At  Ischl  the  Emperor  and  King  Edward  drove 
about  without  escort.  I  saw  them  several  times 
one  day.  On  the  way  to  Ischl  the  train  stopped 
at  Gmunden,  so  that  the  King  might  pay  a  short 
visit  to  the  Duke  and  Duchess  of  Cumberland 
(Queen  Alexandra's  sister  Thyra). 

In  Vienna  the  Ambassador  and  Ambassadress, 
Sir  Francis  and  Lady  Plunket,  gave  a  lunch  for 
the  King,  who  gave  an  audience  to  Miss  Baillie, 
then  Lady  Superintendent  of  the  Victoria  Home 
for  British  Governesses,  which  was  founded  to 
celebrate  the  golden  jubilee  of  Queen  Victoria. 
It  was  under  the  patronage  of  the  Empress  Eliza- 
beth, and  on  her  death  the  Emperor's  younger 
daughter,  the  Archduchess  Valerie,  became  its 
patroness.  King  Edward  inquired  into  every- 
thing concerning  the  home  and  its  work,  and 
promised  to  tell  the  Queen  about  it.  This  he 
did,  the  result  being  that  she  also  became  a 
patroness  of  the  home,  to  which  the  King  gave 
a  donation.  Miss  Baillie  told  me  His  Majesty  was 
most  kind ;  he  went  forward  to  meet  her  as  she 


THE  "  FIRST  GENTLEMAN  "  ABROAD     119 

entered  the  room,  shook  hands,  and  put  her  at  her 
ease  at  once — just  like  him.  A  short  time  after- 
wards the  Prince  and  Princess  of  Wales  came. 
King  Edward  must  have  said  something  to  them 
about  the  home,  for  they  expressed  a  wish  to  see 
Miss  Baillie,  and  she  was  only  too  glad  to  be  sent 
for  by  them. 

The  British  residents  presented  the  King  with 
a  cassette  of  red  Morocco  leather,  with  views  of 
Vienna,  done  in  water-colours  let  into  the  leather. 
I  believe  it  was  to  hold  his  cigars. 

Those  who  were  familiar  with  the  Cote  d'Azur 
when  Queen  Victoria  was  wont  to  visit  it  from 
time  to  time  will  recall  the  frequent  presence  of 
'  the  Prince  "  at  the  battles  of  flowers  on  the 
Promenade  des  Anglais  at  Nice  and  on  the  Croisette 
at  Cannes  ;  and  at  the  Cercle  de  la  Mediterranee  ; 
in  fact,  everywhere  along  the  Riviera.  He  moved 
about  in  the  crowd  at  Carnival  time,  threw  flowers 
like  everybody  else  from  a  brake  heaped  high  with 
blossoms,  or  drew  from  a  bag  handfuls  of  multi- 
coloured scraps  of  paper,  and  scattered  them  right 
and  left.  To  the  cosmopolitan  crowd  "  the 
Prince  "  was  "  part  of  the  show." 

I  often  met  His  Majesty  at  Nice  at  private 
gatherings,  when  it  was  my  privilege  to  see  him 
with  mutual  friends.1  That  was  when  he  was  still 
Prince.  I  stayed  a  week  with  a  foreign  prince 
and  his  charming  wife,  both  of  whom  were  great 
favourites  with  all  the  colonie  elegante  of  the 
Littoral.  They  owned  a  villa — a  magnificent 

1  Alexis  Merikoff,  Paris  "Figaro."     (By  permission.) 


120        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

dwelling — on  the  hills  at  Cannes,  amidst  the  orange 
trees  and  myrtles.  The  Prince  of  Wales  came 
every  day  to  see  my  friends,  the  Prince  and 
Princess,  and  our  days  passed  in  this  fashion. 
Until  noon  we  all  remained  in  our  rooms — beautiful 
rooms  they  were,  too  ;  fitted  with  all  the  luxurious 
English  comforts.  Just  about  twelve  o'clock  we 
descended  to  the  salon,  and  here  the  Prince  of 
Wales  would  come  to  join  us.  Then  we  went  into 
the  salle  a  manger  to  breakfast.  Immediately 
afterwards  we  started  on  a  long  carriage-drive 
into  the  country.  At  five  o'clock  came  tea, 
which  was  sometimes  served  at  the  Princess's 
model  farm  in  the  environs  of  Cannes.  At  other 
times  we  strolled  to  the  golf-links  and  ate  straw- 
berries. Between  six  and  seven  all  returned  to 
the  villa  and  dressed  for  the  eight  o'clock  dinner. 
The  dinner,  in  English  fashion,  was  prolonged  by 
a  slow  sipping  of  various  liqueurs,  placed  by  the 
servants  on  the  table  after  the  removal  of  the 
cloth.  We  saw  then  that  the  table  was  covered 
in  moire  rouge,  with  a  lace  border.  The  evening 
was  given  over  to  conversation. 

King  Edward  was  a  charming  talker,  full  of 
humour  and  wit,  au  courant  of  everything.  Some- 
times we  played  poker,  or  bridge — the  latter  just 
then  coming  into  vogue.  We  used  to  sit  up  very 
late,  for  in  those  days  the  King  was  un  noctambule 
impenitent ;  and  towards  three  or  four,  when 
everybody  began  to  look  rather  tired — especially 
the  ladies — we  retired,  only  the  Prince  remaining 
alert  and  gay,  without  a  trace  of  fatigue. 


THE  "  FIRST  GENTLEMAN  "  ABROAD     121 

Sometimes,   instead  of  dejeuner  at  the  villa, 
we  started  off,  at  ten  or  eleven  o'clock,  in  a  carriage, 
for   some   picturesque    spot,    and   breakfasted   in 
the  shadow  of  the  orange  trees,  while  the  grass- 
hoppers chirruped  merrily.     One  of  these  picnics 
lingers  in  my  memory,   for  everything  was  per- 
fection— the  number  and  the  composition  of  the 
guests,  the  weather,  the  place,  and  the  menu — 
the  latter  not  to  be  disdained  !     The  party  com- 
prised   five    men    and    five    ladies.     At    half -past 
ten  we  started  from  the  villa  in  five  carriages — 
two   in   each   vehicle.     As   the    hotel   where   the 
Prince  of  Wales  wras  stopping  was  on  our  road 
we  all  halted  there  to  take  him  up.     He  was  ready 
arid  waiting  for  us.     He  wore  a  dark-grey  suit,  a 
soft  felt  hat  of  the  same  colour,  and  grey  shoes 
(daim    gris).     His    reputation    for    elegance    was 
certainly  well  deserved.     He  never  looked  as  if 
he  were  "  got  up  "  for  the  occasion,  yet  it  had  the 
effect  of  supreme  refinement.     It  was  he  who  set 
the  fashion,  yet  he  was  never  a  la  mode.     That 
morning,    for    instance,    he    wore    a    collar    with 
*  wings,"    although    at    the    moment    turndown 
collars  were  the  rule.     The  only  lively  note  in  his 
sober  garb  was  the  blue  scarf,  tied  in  a  sailor's 
knot.     With    that    easy    manner    which    was    so 
characteristic,  he  came  up  to  the  carriages,  and 
said   he   was   obliged   to   keep   us   waiting   for   a 
moment ;      !f  an    important    personage    had    not 
completed   his   toilette "    (this    was    said    with    a 
meaning  smile).     We  understood  ;    he  referred  to 
his  favourite  dog,  Peter. 


122       MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

Peter  was  indeed  an  important  personage ;  he 
was  fort  coquet.  He  knew  that  he  had  to  look 
very  nice  when  he  was  going  out  with  elegant 
company.  He  was  a  delicious  bulldog,  black  as 
coal,  with  a  coat  as  sleek  as  velvet.  He  had  three 
beauty  marks  on  his  left  jaw,  and  extraordinarily 
mobile  ears,  illustrating  the  various  moods  of  a 
dog  at  once  spoilt  and  intelligent.  At  the  moment 
his  ears  denoted  impatience.  He  was  listening 
to  everything — to  the  horses  champing  their  bits 
and  pawing  the  ground  with  their  hoofs,  and  to 
the  voices  of  the  party.  After  his  tub  he  was 
frictioned  with  eau-de-Cologne  ;  then,  seated  in  a 
chair,  he  held  out  first  one  paw,  then  the  other, 
while  the  servant  who  had  charge  of  him  brushed 
his  paws  and  cut  his  nails  !  Meantime  the  horses 
were  getting  impatient.  Peter  loved  horses,  and 
did  not  like  to  keep  them  waiting ;  and  he  turned 
his  black  muzzle  to  the  valet  as  if  he  would  say, 
"  Well,  where  is  my  collar  ?  Be  quick  with  it ! ?: 
A  collar  was  shown  to  him,  but  he  turned  away 
from  it  disgusted.  Was  it  possible  that  any  one 
could  offer  him  such  a  collar  under  the  circum- 
stances ?  A  white  varnished  collar  with  gold 
plaque  to  wear  at  a  lunch  in  the  country  !  De- 
plorable want  of  taste !  With  a  bound  Peter 
jumped  from  the  chair  and  made  for  the  place  where 
all  his  collars  were  ranged.  He  selected  one  with 
his  humid  jaws,  a  collar  of  fawn-coloured  leather, 
bordered  with  squirrel's  fur.  A  la  bonne  heure  ! 
Now  he  was  "  in  the  note,"  and  he  came  frisking 
along  to  rejoin  us.  Politely  he  said  "  Bon  jour  " 


THE  "FIRST  GENTLEMAN"  ABROAD     123 

to    everybody  —  then    stretched    himself    at     his 
master's  feet. 

It  was  glorious  weather.  Those  who  have  not 
lived  in  those  morning  hours  in  Provence  do  not 
know  the  beauty  of  the  world.  What  are  words 
amidst  such  scenes  ?  Of  what  avail  are  descrip- 
tions ?  We  pass,  first,  between  walls  covered  with 
scarlet  geraniums  and  pale  blue  plumbagos  ;  from 
the  terraces  droop  roses — Marechal  Niels  and  La 
France  ;  and  then  there  are  the  mimosas  and  the 
olive  trees.  The  walls  disappeared,  and  we  were 
in  the  open  country,  amongst  the  almond  and 
orange  trees.  In  the  carriages  everybody  was 
talking.  The  Prince  of  Wales  said,  "  Often  as  I 
have  been  here  I  never  tire  of  this  glorious  country. 
It  is  always  new  to  me — every  time  I  discover  some 
new  beauty." 

Now  we  were  in  the  wood  which  skirts  the 
Siagne,  the  little  stream  in  the  environs  of  Cannes, 
where  it  was  arranged  that  we  should  lunch ; 
and  amidst  the  trees  we  saw  the  white  table- 
cloths and  the  sparkling  glasses.  At  this  spectacle 
everybody  remembered  that  it  was  the  luncheon- 
hour,  and  that  the  open  air  gives  one  a  tre- 
mendous appetite.  The  servants  had  arranged 
everything  most  artistically.  The  table  was  not 
far  from  the  stream.  All  the  chairs  were  on 
the  same  side  of  the  table,  facing  the  water. 
We  were  in  the  shadow  of  the  planes  and  the 
pines. 

All  subjects  were  talked  about,  and  we  were 
never  tired  of  admiring  the  surprising  youthful- 


124        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

ness  of  the  Prince  of  Wales.  He  was  quite  as 
vigorous  mentally  as  physically. 

Suddenly  there  came  the  sound  of  a  guitar, 
and  a  tenor  voice  was  heard  singing  "  O  sole  mio." 
Some  wandering  musicians,  with  the  extraordinary 
flair  of  their  kind,  had  followed  us  on  foot — that 
was  why  they  had  not  appeared  when  we  were 
lunching.  You  hear  them  everywhere  on  the 
Littoral ;  they  are  in  harmony  with  the  country. 
They  carry  about  a  little  of  its  sun,  and  it  is  that 
sun  which  makes  their  eyes  so  bright  and  their 
voices  so  vibrating. 

In  this  wise  the  time  flew  by,  and  the  deep 
violet  shadows  were  creeping  up  as  we  started  on 
the  return  homewards.  The  fading  light  enveloped 
all  Nature  in  its  melancholy  majesty,  and  we  all 
felt  its  influence. 

In  front  of  his  hotel  Edward  vn.  left  us.  We 
said  "Au  revoir "  gaily.  Peter  careered  about 
gleefully,  as  though  not  sorry  to  get  back. 


CHAPTER   VI 

ROYAL  CHILDREN'S  MONEY-BOXES 

IN  the  sixties  and  the  seventies,  and  in  1889,  a 
dead  set  was  made  against  the  Monarchy  by  the 
extreme  Radicals.  The  most  active,  and  certainly 
the  most  talented,  of  the  grumblers  during  the 
first  portions  of  the  period  indicated  were  Mr. 
Joseph  Chamberlain,1  Sir  Charles  Dilke,  and  Mr. 
Bradlaugh.  The  names  of  others  it  is  needless 
to  mention.  There  were  two  main  pretexts  for 
the  hubbub  :  Queen  Victoria's  seclusion  and  the 
cost  of  maintaining  the  Monarchy.  When  oppor- 
tunity arose  brickbats  were  thrown  in  the  direc- 
tion of  the  Prince  of  Wales,  who  took  them 
without  flinching.  In  1889-91  the  most  hostile 
critics  of  the  Prince  of  Wales's  Children  Bill  were 
Mr.  Labouchere  and  Mr.  Stead.  The  question  at 
issue  was  the  "  Royal  Grants,"  in  which  the 
future  King  Edward  was  greatly  interested. 

In    1889   Mr.    Stead 2   was   telling   us,    in   the 

1  By  1889  Mr.  Chamberlain  had  become  "  plus  Royaliste  que  le 
Roi,"  and  was  accusing  his  former  supporters  of  being  "  the  Nihilists 
of  English  politics."  Nihilists  !  It  amused  the  Prince,  who 
remembered  that  only  six  years  before  "  Joe  "  had  been  the  Tories' 
bogy-man. 

*  In  consideration  of  his  services  to  the  Monarchy,  Mr.  Stead  in 
1891  was  graciously  permitted  to  pose  as  the  apologist  of  the 
Prince  of  Wales. 

126 


126       MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

then  Radical  "Pall  Mall  Gazette,"  that  we 
had  "  too  little  Monarchy  for  our  money."  The 
"  Times  "  obliged  him  with  a  lead  by  "  shaking 
its  head  solemnly ?:  and  admitting  that  "  the 
debate  which  will  begin  to-day  "  [on  the  Royal 
Grants]  "  threatens  to  excite  a  startling  amount 
of  disturbance  both  within  and  without  the  lines 
of  party  demarcation."  Thus  stimulated,  the 
Pall  Mall  Gazetteer,  in  his  "  fearless  old  fashion," 
pontificated  in  this  fashion  : 

The  public  does  not  complain  that  it  has  too 
much  Monarchy,  but  rather  that  it  has  too  little 
Monarchy  for  its  money.  Roughly  speaking,  the 
demand  that  the  new  allowances  should  be  met 
out  of  "  grandmother's  million "  is  at  bottom 
based  upon  the  popular  conviction  that  the  Queen 
has  not  altogether  acted  fairly  with  her  subjects. 
We  gave  her  a  salary  on  the  distinct  understanding 
that  she  would  do  the  thing  in  style,  and  keep  up 
the  Royal  pageant  with  the  splendour  dear  to  the 
popular  heart.  She  has  drawn  her  pay  with 
the  regularity  of  any  official,  but  she  has  failed  to 
keep  up  the  style.  The  public  therefore  feels  that 
she  is  pretty  much  in  the  position  of  a  commercial 
traveller  receiving  travelling  allowance  at  first- 
class  fare,  and  who  goes  third  class  in  order  that 
he  may  pocket  the  difference.  That  is  not  a  fair 
thing  to  do  by  your  employer,  and  John  Bull  has 
not  been  over  well  pleased  by  the  way  in  which 
Her  Majesty,  who  has  been  salaried  as  a  Queen, 
has  lived  as  the  matron  of  a  drab  Republic.  But 
although  he  did  not  like  it  he  put  up  with  it  without 
serious  protest.  The  Prince  of  WTales  made  shift 
to  serve  as  a  substitute  for  his  absentee  mother, 
and  every  one  hoped  that  in  some  way  or  other 


ROYAL  CHILDREN'S  MONEY-BOXES     127 

she  had  made  it  up  to  him  and  that  he  was  not  left 
to  do  her  work  at  his  own  charges.     Now,  however, 
that  it  is  proposed  to  add  £36,000  a  year  to  the 
Prince's   allowance,   because  the   expenses   which 
he  has  incurred  in  filling  the  Queen's  place  render 
it  impossible  for  him  to  provide  adequately  for 
his  own  children,  a  very  unpleasant  feeling  prevails 
which   finds   much    more   vigorous   expression   in 
private  than  anything  that   the  newspapers  are 
likely  to  print.     Broadly  stated,  the  popular  feeling 
is  that  as  the  Queen  has  not  seen  fit  to  do  the  work 
she  contracted  to  perform,  but  has  put  the  money 
allowed  for  it  into  her  own  pocket,  it  is  from  that 
capacious  receptacle  that  all  new  grants  to  grand- 
children should  be  drawn.     We  admit  fully  that 
the  Queen  has  done  the  solid,  useful  part  of  her 
work  admirably.     It  is  the  firework  side  of  the 
Royal  job  that  she  has  scamped.     It  may  fairly 
be  objected  that  the  pageantry  of  the  Monarchy 
is  not  of  much  importance,  being  merely  a  matter 
of  gilded  gingerbread,   or  even  worse,   and  that 
the  nation  is  better  when  it  has  none  of  the  pomp 
and   glitter   of   Royal   spectacles.     That   may   be 
the  case,  but,  if  so,  the  nation  ought  not  to  go  on 
paying  for  that  which  is  properly  denied  it.     As 
we  have  gone  on  paying  in  full,  and  more  than  in 
full,  all  the  money  required  for  the  gilded  ginger- 
bread  of   monarchical   state,   while   we  have   not 
had   the   Show   for   our   money,    we   feel,    now   a 
fresh  demand  is  made  for  Royal  grants,  that  our 
opportunity   has   arrived   for  expressing   our  dis- 
satisfaction with  the  way  in  which  we  have  been 
treated.      We   paid   for    silk    and    satin   and   got 
instead    linsey  -  woolsey,    which    may    be    better 
material,  but  is   certainly  not   so  dear.      As  the 
other  party  has  saved  a  million  out  of  the  differ- 
ence it  is  only  fair  that  she  should  provide  for 


128        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

her    grandchildren    without   making    any   further 
demands  on  the  taxpayer. 

The   Conservative   party   was   in   power,    and 
when,  in  the  House  of  Commons,  it  was  proposed 
to  go  into  Committee  to  consider  the  message  from 
the  Queen  with  reference  to  the  allowance  to  be 
made  to  Prince  Albert  Victor  of  Wales  and  the 
Princess    Victoria    of    Wales,    Mr.    W.    H.    Smith 
pointed  out  that  Her  Majesty's   Ministers   alone 
were    responsible    for    the    consequences    of    any 
advice  which  they  might  have  given  to  the  Crown. 
Commenting  upon  the  Report  presented  to  the 
House,  Mr.  Smith  said  it  showed  that  the  annual 
sum   paid   to   the    Crown    in    1837   amounted   to 
£227,000.     It    was    now    £152,000.      They    were 
proud  of  the  fact  that  no  application  had  been 
made  to  Parliament  for  the  payment  of  any  debt 
incurred  on  the  Civil  List  during  the  reign  of  Her 
Majesty.     He  was  sure  Mr.  Gladstone  would  agree 
with  the  doctrine  which  he  laid  down — namely, 
that  it  was  never  the  duty  of  the  Crown  or  of  the 
Prince  of  Wales  to  make  provision  for  his  own 
family.     Her  Majesty  had  directed  that  no  claims 
should  be  pressed  in  respect  to  the  issue  of  her 
younger   sons  and   daughters.     Mr.   Smith,   amid 
derisive  cheers  from  the  Radicals,  protested  against 
dragging  the   sacred  institutions   of  the  country 
into  the  arena  of  political  discussion.     Therefore 
he  hoped  there  would  be  no  embittered  contro- 
versy on  the  point  at  issue.     It  was  possible  that 
he  might  be  exposed  to  blame  from  his  own  side 


ROYAL  CHILDREN'S  MONEY-BOXES     129 

of  the  House  because  he  did  not  contest  the  sug- 
gestion of  Mr.  Gladstone  that  the  allowance  of  the 
Prince  of  Wales  should  be  reduced  from  £40,000 
to  £36,000.  He  did  so  because  he  thought  the 
support  of  Mr.  Gladstone  would  be  more  im- 
portant to  the  Prince  of  Wales  than  the  few 
thousands  difference. 

Mr.  Labouchere  moved  that  "  an  humble 
address  be  presented  to  Her  Majesty,  respectfully 
setting  forth  that,  in  the  opinion  of  this  House, 
the  funds  now  at  the  disposal  of  Her  Majesty  and 
of  the  other  members  of  her  family  are  adequate, 
without  further  demands  upon  the  taxpayers,  to 
enable  suitable  provision  to  be  made  for  Her 
Majesty's  grandchildren,  and  that  such  provision 
might,  if  it  be  desired,  be  increased,  with  the  ap- 
proval of  Her  Majesty,  by  the  withdrawal  of  many 
salaries  in  Class  2  of  the  Civil  List,  and  by  other 
economies  in  Classes  2  and  3,  and  this  without 
trenching  upon  the  honour  and  dignity  of  the 
Crown,  and  without  inconvenience  to  Her  Majesty." 
Mr.  Smith's  policy  was  like  the  charge  of  Balaclava 
—very  noble,  but  by  no  means  consistent  with  the 
practice  of  the  House.  Mr.  Smith  on  every  occa- 
sion endeavoured  to  make  himself  the  scapegoat 
of  the  Government,  and  made  himself  alone  re- 
sponsible for  many  acts.  What  must  be  made 
perfectly  clear  now  was  that  the  Government  was 
responsible  for  every  word  spoken  and  every  act 
done  by  Mr.  Smith.  Mr.  Labouchere  declined  to 
be  a  party  to  the  proposed  grants,  and  taunted 
Ministers  with  having  acted  with  indecency  in  this 

9 


130       MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

matter.  They  had  gone  into  Committee  with  a 
definite  programme  of  their  own ;  they  then 
consented  to  accept  a  portion  of  the  sum  originally 
fixed  by  themselves,  and  had  permitted  an  amount 
of  chaffering  and  bargaining  that  tended  more 
than  any  action  that  might  be  openly  taken  against 
these  grants  to  lower  the  respect  which  ought  to 
be  entertained  for  Her  Majesty  and  the  Royal 
Family.  His  contention  was  that  there  ought  to 
be  sufficient  funds  available  for  the  purposes  in 
question  (he  had  indicated  their  sources)  without 
necessitating  any  appeal  to  the  taxpayers  of  the 
country. 

While  Mr.  Labouchere  respectfully  disagreed 
with  Mr.  Gladstone,  he  could  not  forget  that  his 
moral  ascendancy  on  the  Committee  saved  the 
country  a  sum  of  £33,000  per  annum.  Mr.  Morley  l 
was  much  in  the  position  of  a  traveller  who  had  to 
travel  a  road  infested  with  brigands.  He  felt  him- 
self bound  to  pay  blackmail,  in  order  to  secure 
himself  immunity  from  future  attacks  from  these 
brigands.  Seeing,  however,  that  this  immunity 
had  not  been  secured,  he  had  no  doubt  that  Mr. 
Morley  would  vote  for  his  amendment.  Mr. 
Labouchere  quoted  from  a  speech  made  by  Lord 
Brougham  in  1837  on  the  right  of  the  Crown  to 
the  Duchy  of  Lancaster  and  the  Duchy  of  Cornwall. 
Up  to  the  reign  of  George  in.  Parliament  never 
voted  one  shilling  for  either  the  children  or  the 
grandchildren  of  any  monarch.  This  custom 
came  in  in  the  reign  of  George  in.  He  did  not 

1  The  present  Lord  Morley. 


ROYAL  CHILDREN'S  MONEY-BOXES     131 

look  back  with  any  particular  respect  to  the  reign 
of  George  in.  To  his  thinking  it  was  a  period  of 
exuberant  servility.  After  enumerating  a  number 
of  items  in  Classes  2  and  3  of  the  Civil  List  he 
totalled  up  the  various  sums  paid  to  Her  Majesty, 
which  might  be  described  as  pin  money,  and 
reached  a  total  of  £136,000  per  annum.  There  must 
be  a  considerable  sum  of  money  saved  annually, 
and  he  was  sorry  he  could  not  disclose  the  sum 
saved  by  Her  Majesty  and  communicated  to  the 
Committee  under  the  pledge  of  secrecy. 

The  House  of  Commons  had  to  decide  between 
these  two  propositions  : 

THE   CONSERVATIVE   GOVERNMENT'S    SCHEME 

To  Prince  Albert  Victor   .  .  £10,000 

To  Prince  George    .  .  .       8,000 

To  the  three  Princesses     .  .       9,000 


£27,000 


Extra  on  marriage 


Prince  Albert  Victor         .  .  £15,000 

Prince  George       .  .  .       7,000 

The  Princesses      .  .  .       1,200 


£50,200 

MR.  GLADSTONE'S  SCHEME 

To  the  Prince  of  Wales,  as 
trustee  for  his  children,  an 
extra  allowance  of  £36,000 


132        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

Mr.  Gladstone's  proposal  was  adopted,  to  the 
intense  dissatisfaction  of  the  Radicals, 

Although  Mr.  Labouchere  was,  as  we  have  seen, 
a  merciless  critic  of  Royalty  when  it  became  a 
question  of  dowries,  King  Edward  was  so  tolerant 
a  man  that  he  bore  the  often  humorous  attacks  of 
"  Labby  "  and  the  more  incisive  assaults  of  Brad- 
laugh  with  equanimity.  Labouchere's  flouts  and 
jeers  were  not  too  seriously  taken,  and  the  Prince 
could  afford  to  smile  at  them.  With  Bradlaugh 
it  was  different,  and  the  Heir-Apparent  was 
not  slow  to  recognise  the  vindictive  force  of 
the  Atheist's  blows.  A  third  antagonist  was 
"  Reynolds's  Newspaper,"  a  paper  carefully  read 
by  Queen  Victoria's  eldest  son  from  his  early  man- 
hood until  his  death.  King  Edward  lived  long 
enough  to  see  "  Reynolds's  "  change  its  note.  In 
a  negative  way  it  became  friendly ;  towards  the  end 
of  the  last  reign  it  developed  into  a  Government 
organ,  and  one  of  its  brightest  lights x  was  not  too 
proud  to  accept  a  knighthood.  King  Edward 
bestowed  the  accolade — not,  I  think,  without  a 
smile — but  it  was  reserved  for  King  George  to 
admit  the  member  for  the  Kirkcaldy  Burghs  to  the 
Privy  Council.  Sir  Sidney  Lee  is  also  a  Georgian 
knight,  but  not  yet  a  P.C.  Had  Labouchere  lived 
to  read  that  King  Edward  "  was  unable  to  sustain 
a  long  conversation,"  he  would  have  laughed  the 
perpetrator  of  such  a  tarradiddle  to  scorn.  In 
the  presence  of  bores  the  King  took  refuge  in 
brilliant  silence ;  where  the  company  was  con- 

1  Sir  Henry  Dalziel,  M.P.,  P.C. 


ROYAL  CHILDREN'S  MONEY-BOXES     133 

genial  he  was  very  talkative,  yet  not  monopolising 
the  conversation.  Mr.  Gladstone — a  thick-and- 
thin  admirer  of  the  Prince  and  a  devotee  from 
the  outset  at  the  shrine  of  the  Princess — would 
have  endorsed  this. 


CHAPTER    VII 

CALUMNIATING   KING   EDWARD 

Injuries  are  writ  in  brass,  kind  Graccho, 
And  not  to  be  forgotten.  x 

"  MON  DIEU  !  qu'il  est  difficile  d'ecrire  Phis- 
toire  !  " 

This  heart-cry  was  wrung  from  that  past- 
master  in  the  art  of  the  chronique,  M.  Jules 
Claretie,  after  an  experience  of  nearly  half  a 
century,  and  it  will  find  a  responsive  echo  among 
those  many  talented  writers  who,  to  the  advantage 
of  the  public,  are  delving  in  the  mines  of  great  or 
little  history.  No  one  knows  better  than  the 
erudite  director  of  the  Theatre  Frangais  the  pit- 
falls which  await  those  whose  historical  domain 
is  classed  as  the  biographical ;  but  he  would  be  the 
first  to  admit  that  the  occasion  sometimes  arises 
when  the  task  of  the  biographer  is  of  the  pleasantest, 
as  my  effort  to  show  the  world  the  real  King 
Edward  has  been.  "It  is  easy  to  triumph  in  a 
just  cause,"  says  Cicero;  and  my  triumph  has 
been  of  the  easiest.  I  had  merely  to  "  tell  truth 
and  shame  the  Devil." 

"  I  am  certain  that  you  have  done  your  utmost 

1  Massinger,  "  The  Duke  of  Milan." 

134 


CALUMNIATING  KING  EDWARD      135 

to  mitigate  the  bad  and  false  impression  caused  by 
that  article*  and  to  place  our  beloved  King's  character 
and  career  in  its  true  and  proper  light  before  the 
public" 

This  is  a  generous  tribute,  gilded  with  truth 
and  the  right  to  speak.  It  sets  the  seal  of  approval 
upon  all  I  have  written  about  King  Edward.  I 
want  no  other  testimonial. 

The  Dictionary's  Memoir  has  caused  a  "  bad 
and  false  impression."  The  author  has  told 
us  that  he  was  aided  in  his  task  by  some  who  (so 
he  has  written)  were  on  "  intimate  terms  "  with 
King  Edward,  and  consequently,  we  must  sup- 
pose, with  Queen  Alexandra  and  King  George. 
Naturally  the  "  informers "  desire  to  preserve 
their  anonymity.  "  Willing  to  wound  "  and  not 
"  afraid  to  strike,"  they  are  unwilling  and  afraid 
to  reveal  their  identity  in  1913  as  they  were  in 
1912. 

What  Bismarck  said  to  Busch  is  not  inappli- 
cable to  the  eavesdroppers  :  "  You  drew  conclu- 
sions from  occasional  utterances  which  you  jotted 
down  under  the  tablecloth." 

The  whole  question  has  occupied  the  attention 
of  the  British  and  Colonial  Press,  and  to  a  certain 
extent  the  American  papers  have  also  discussed 
it — some  with  knowledge,  some  without.  And  it 
is  in  no  vainglorious  or  recriminatory  spirit  that 
I  now,  for  the  information  of  the  readers  of  this 
volume,  recall  the  events  of  September  and 

1  The     "  Dictionary    of    National    Biography's "    Memoir    of 
Edward  vii. 


136        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

October  1912.  My  only  desire  is  to  show  those 
who  may  not  have  followed  the  controversy 
how  the  slighted  reputation  of  King  Edward  was 
restored  by  the  Press  when  the  truth  and  nothing 
but  the  truth  was  put  before  it  by  Professor 
Arminius  Vambery,  Comte  d'Haussonville,  and 
myself. 

The  "  New  York  Times  "  remarked  : 

The  astonishing  thing  is  that  there  has  not 
been  a  great  outburst  of  popular  indignation 
against  a  Memoir  which  is  destructive  of  a  cherished 
popular  trust  and  approval.  Perhaps  the  out- 
burst will  come  later,  when  a  knowledge  is  dis- 
seminated of  the  things  that  have  been  said  and 
written  about  King  Edward  by  men  who  have 
read  the  "  Dictionary  of  National  Biography." 
Mr.  Legge's  survey  of  the  life  of  Edward  vn. 
furnishes  a  very  good  and  much-needed  antidote 
to  the  disparaging  biography  of  the  King  written 
for  the  Dictionary  by  Sir  Sidney  Lee. 

Of  the  Dictionary's  Memoir  of  Edward  vn. 
the  "  Athenseum  "  (June  15,  1912)  said  :  "  It  also 
embodies  a  very  carefully  considered  view  of  the 
King's  character,  based  on  information  supplied  by 
those  about  him."  The  "Athenaeum"  is  a  serious 
paper,  formerly  owned  by  Sir  Charles  Dilke,1 
and  it  would  hardly  have  brought  lightly  such 
a  charge — for  a  charge  it  is — against  those  com- 
posing the  Royal  entourage  :  the  words  "  those 
about  King  Edward  "  can  have  no  other  meaning, 

1  Sir  Sidney  Lee  has  told  us,  in  the  "  Daily  Telegraph  "  (June  8, 
1912).  that  he  had  access  to  Sir  Charles  Dilke's  diaries. 


CALUMNIATING  KING  EDWARD      137 

unless  the  "  Athenaeum  "  intended  to  imply  that 
Sir  Sidney  Lee's  "  view  of  the  King's  character  " 
was  >c  based  on  information  supplied "  to  him 
by  the  domestic  servants  of  the  Palace.  The 
"  Daily  Telegraph's  "  denunciation  of  the  Memoir 
appeared  on  June  7 — the  "  Athenaeum's  "  statement 
on  June  15.  There  was  ample  time  for  the  weekly 
paper  to  inquire  of  Sir  S.  Lee  or  of  the  publishers 
of  the  Dictionary  as  to  the  precise  sources 
from  whence  the  former  derived  his  information. 
Did  the  "  Athenaeum  "  so  inquire,  and  if  so  was 
it  told,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  that  Sir  S.  Lee  wrote 
the  Memoir  "  on  information  supplied  by  those 
about "  King  Edward  ?  Sir  S.  Lee  was  quick  to 
reply  to  the  "  Telegraph's "  severe  strictures. 
Why  did  he  not  inform  the  "  Athenaeum  "  that 
its  statement  was  incorrect,  if  it  were  so  ?  If 
it  were  true,  we  have  a  clue  to  the  identity 
of  the  "  informers."  But  even  so  it  does  not, 
of  course,  necessarily  follow  that  they  are  all 
living  :  for  their  own  peace  of  mind  I  hope  they 
are  not. 

It  must  have  been  known  to  "  the  authorities  " 
that  the  article  in  this  "  standard  work  of  refer- 
ence," as  the  "  Dictionary  of  National  Biography  " 
is  called,  and  in  most  respects  doubtless  is  (this  I 
cheerfully  concede),  was  being  prepared  for  publica- 
tion in  June  1912.  Judging  by  statements  in  the 
newspapers  it  was  intended  to  lead  the  public  to 
believe  that  the  Editor  of  the  Dictionary  had 
written  his  Memoir  from  information  supplied  to 
him  by  persons  in  authority.  The  "  Daily  Mail  " 


138        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

(June  6)  said  :  "  Sir  Sidney  Lee  has  had  access  to 
private  and  official  sources  of  information  that 
enable  him  to  illuminate  some  recent  passages  in 
history."  He  "  illuminated  "  them  with  a  ven- 
geance !  On  October  28  the  "  Daily  Mail's " 
"  Englishman  "  slaughtered  Sir  Sidney  Lee  and 
stamped  upon  his  Memoir.  Readers  of  my  article 
published  in  the  "  Fortnightly  Review  "  in  October 
will  remember  Sir  S.  Lee's  reply  to  the  question 
asked  him  by  the  "  Daily  Chronicle's  "  interviewer 
—  whether  the  Memoir  was  "approved  of  by 
those  nearest  to  the  late  King " ;  and  they  will 
recall  Sir  Sidney's  enigmatical  words  :  'You 
must  not  ask  me  that  question,  for  I  cannot 
answer  it." 

On  June  6  the  papers  were  full  of  that 
Memoir  of  Edward  vn.  All  the  depreciatory 
"  titbits "  were  printed  by  the  journals.  The 
writers  whose  duty  it  was  to  "  notice,"  not  to 
"  review "  (which  is  another  matter),  the  Dic- 
tionary knew  what  would  titillate  their  readers' 
palates — the  passages  which  unblushingly  pro- 
claimed King  Edward  to  be  a  mediocrity.  The 
papers  did  not  then  question  the  accuracy  of  the 
Dictionary.  The  preliminary  puffing  paragraphs 
hinting  at  the  sources  of  information  tapped  by 
the  receptive,  but  not  too  perceptive,  writer  of 
the  Memoir  of  our  King  — "  pauvre  Sire  ! ':  to 
quote  the  eminent  French  critic,  M.  Gerard  Harry 
— were  accepted  as  guarantees  that  all  that  was 
contained  in  the  Dictionary  was  absolutely  accurate. 
And  when,  on  June  7,  the  "  Daily  Telegraph " 


CALUMNIATING  KING  EDWARD      139 

denounced  the  "  gaucheries,"  Sir  Sidney  Lee,  in 
his  letter  of  justification  prominently  published 
by  the  "  Telegraph,"  persisted  in  affirming  that 
it  was  "  all  true." 

That  being  so,  what  was  the  obvious  duty  of 
"  the  authorities "  ?  It  was  this  :  to  get  an 
absolute  denial  of  the  "  belittlings "  of  King 
Edward  inserted  in  the  newspapers.  Why  was 
this  course  not  adopted  ?  Why  was  the  matter 
not  brought  before  Parliament  ?  1 

On  June  7,  simultaneously  with  the  "  Tele- 
graph's "  just  tomahawking  of  the  Dictionary's 
misconceptions,  a  letter  penned  by  the  writer  of 
these  lines  appeared  in  the  "  Daily  Mail."  It  was 
very  plain-spoken.  Yet  no  official  or  semi-official 
denial  of  the  Dictionary's  assertions,  deductions, 
misconceptions,  blunders,  or  "  gaucheries  " — call 
them  by  any  name  you  will — was  sent  to  the 
newspapers.  All  was  silence — the  silence  of  the 
Windsor  grave.  ''  Say  nothing  about  it  !  Cover 
it  up  !  It  will  soon  be  forgotten  !  "  Poor  King  ! 

Far  different  was  it  in  1854,  when  King  Edward's 
father  and  mother  were  the  subjects  of  newspaper 
attacks,  as  recorded  in  the  Greville  Memoirs. 
Then  Mr.  Gladstone  came  forward  in  print  as  the 
champion  of  Queen  Victoria  and  her  Consort,  and 
ultimately  the  subject  was  discussed  in  Parliament. 
In  1912  the  Dictionary's  "belittlings"  of  King 
Edward  were  contemptuously  ignored  by  those 
who  were  in  a  position  to  give  them  an  authoritative 

1  In  June  1913,  to  "clear"  two  Ministers  of  the  Crown,  the 
whole  legislative  machinery  was  set  in  motion. 


140       MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

public  contradiction,  and  it  was  left  to  others  to 
expose  them. 

Greville  tells  us  thus  pointedly  what  occurred 
in  his  time  : 

January  15,  1854. — I  have  never  yet  noticed 
the  extraordinary  run  there  has  been  for  some 
weeks  past  against  the  Court,  more  particularly 
the  Prince  [Consort],  which  is  now  exciting  general 
attention  and  has  undoubtedly  produced  a  con- 
siderable effect  throughout  the  country.  It  began 
a  few  weeks  ago  in  the  Press,  particularly  in  the 
"  Daily  News  "  and  the  "  Morning  Advertiser," 
but  chiefly  in  the  latter,  and  was  immediately 
taken  up  by  the  Tory  papers,  the  "  Morning 
Herald  "  and  the  "  Standard,"  and  for  some  time 
past  they  have  poured  forth  article  after  article, 
and  letter  after  letter,  full  of  the  bitterest  abuse 
and  all  sorts  of  lies.  The  "  Morning  Advertiser  " 
has  sometimes  had  five  or  six  articles  on  the  same 
day  all  attacking  and  maligning  Prince  Albert. 
Many  of  these  [attacks]  are  very  vague,  but  the 
charges  against  him  are  principally  to  this  effect 
— that  he  has  been  in  the  habit  of  meddling 
improperly  in  public  affairs,  and  has  used  his 
influence  to  promote  objects  of  his  own  and  the 
interests  of  his  own  family  at  the  expense  of  the 
interests  of  this  country ;  that  he  is  German  and 
not  English  in  his  sentiments  and  principles ; 
that  he  corresponds  with  foreign  Princes  and 
with  British  Ministers  abroad  without  the  know- 
ledge of  the  Government ;  and  that  he  thwarts 
the  foreign  policy  of  the  Ministers  when  it  does 
not  coincide  with  his  own  ideas  and  purposes.  He 
is  particularly  accused  of  having  exerted  his 
influence  over  this  Government  to  prevent  the 


CALUMNIATING  KING  EDWARD      141 

course  which  they  ought  to  have  done  with  regard 
to  Turkey,  and  of  having  a  strong  bias  towards 
Austria  and  Russia  and  against  France. 

Then  it  is  said  that  he  is  always  present  when 
the  Queen  receives  her  Ministers,  which  is  uncon- 
stitutional, and  that  all  the  papers  pass  through 
his  hands  or  under  his  eyes.  He  is  accused  of 
interfering  with  all  the  Departments  of  Govern- 
ment, more  particularly  with  the  Horse  Guards, 
and  specifically  with  the  recent  transactions  and 
disagreements  in  that  office,  which  led  to  the 
retirement  of  General  Brown,  the  Adjutant- 
General.  Then  he  and  the  Queen  are  accused  of 
having  got  up  an  intrigue  with  Foreign  Powers, 
Austria,  particularly,  for  getting  Palmerston  out 
of  office  last  year  ;  that  she  first  hampered  him  in 
the  Foreign  Office  by  insisting  on  seeing  his 
despatches  before  he  sent  them  off,  and  then  that 
she  compelled  John  Russell  to  dismiss  him  on  the 
ground  of  disrespectful  conduct  to  herself,  when 
the  real  reason  was  condescension  to  the  wishes  of 
Austria,  with  which  Power  the  Prince  had  intimately 
connected  himself. 

Charges  of  this  sort,  mixed  up  with  smaller 
collateral  ones,  have  been  repeated  day  after  day 
with  the  utmost  virulence  and  insolence  by  both 
the  Radical  and  the  Tory  journals.  For  some 
time  they  made  very  little  impression  and  the 
Queen  and  Prince  were  not  at  all  disturbed  by 
them  ;  but  the  long  continuance  of  these  savage 
libels,  and  the  effect  which  their  continued  re- 
futation has  evidently  produced  throughout  the 
country,  have  turned  their  indifference  into  ex- 
treme annoyance.  I  must  say  I  never  remember 
anything  more  atrocious  or  unjust.  Delane  (Editor 
of  the  "  Times ")  went  to  Aberdeen  (Prime 
Minister),  and  told  him  that  immense  mischief 


142        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

had  been  done,  and  that  he  ought  to  know  that 
the  effect  produced  was  very  great  and  general,  and 
offered  (if  it  was  thought  desirable)  to  take  up  the 
cudgels  in  defence  of  the  Court.  Aberdeen  con- 
sulted the  Prince,  and  they  were  of  opinion  that 
it  was  better  not  to  put  forth  any  defence,  or  rebut 
such  charges  in  the  Press,  but  to  wait  until  Parlia- 
ment meets,  and  take  an  opportunity  to  rebut  the 
charges  there.  .  . 

January  16.  The  attacks  on  the  Prince  go  on 
with  redoubled  violence,  and  the  most  absurd 
lies  are  put  forth  and  readily  believed.  It  is  very 
difficult  to  know  what  to  do,  but  the  best  thing  will 
be  a  discussion  in  the  House  of  Commons,  if  possible 
in  both  Houses.  It  is  now  said  that  Sir  Robert 
Peel  is  going  to  raise  one. 

January  21. — The  Press  has  been  infamous, 
and  I  have  little  doubt  that  there  is  plenty  of 
libellous  matter  to  be  found  in  some  of  the  articles, 
if  it  should  be  deemed  advisable  for  the  Attorney- 
General  to  take  it  up. 

January  25. — I  wrote  a  letter  in  the  "Times" 
(signed  "  Juvenal  "),  showing  up  the  lies  of  the 
"  Morning  Advertiser,"  and  how  utterly  unworthy 
of  credit  such  a  paper  is.  I  find  Palmerston  and 
Aberdeen  have  come  to  an  understanding  as  to 
what  shall  be  said  in  the  way  of  explanation, 
which  is  a  good  thing.  It  will  not  be  much,  and 
they  will  tell  the  same  story. 

The  whole  subject  was  brought  before  Parlia- 
ment : 

February  1. — Parliament  met  yesterday  . 
In  the  Lords  Derby  made  a  slashing  speech, 
but  very  imprudent,  and  played  into  Aberdeen's 
hands,  who  availed  himself  of  it  very  well,  and 


CALUMNIATING  KING  EDWARD      143 

made  a  very  good  answer.  Derby  afforded  him 
a  very  good  opportunity  of  vindicating  the  Prince, 
which  he  did  very  effectively,  and  then  Derby 
followed  him  and  joined  in  the  vindication.  Derby 
was  put  into  a  great  rage  by  Aberdeen's  speech, 
and  could  not  resist  attacking  me  (whom  he  saw 
behind  the  Throne).  He  attacked  my  letter, 
(signed  C)  in  which  I  had  pitched  into  the  Tories 
for  their  attacks  on  the  Prince.  I  saw  his  people 
turn  round  and  look  towards  me,  but  I  did  not 
care  a  fig,  and  was  rather  pleased  to  see  how  what 
I  wrote  had  galled  them  and  struck  home.  In 
the  Commons  the  Government  was  still  more 
triumphant.  The  Opposition  were  disorganised 
and  feeble  .  .  .  John  Russell  made  a  very  good 
speech,  and  took  the  bull  by  the  horns  about  the 
Prince,  entered  at  once  on  the  subject,  and  de- 
livered an  energetic  vindication  of  and  eulogium 
on  him  in  his  best  style.  It  was  excellent,  and 
between  his  speech  and  Aberdeen's  and  all  those 
who  chimed  in,  that  abomination  may  be  con- 
sidered to  be  destroyed  altogether,  and  we  shall 
probably  hear  no  more  of  it. 

February  2. — The  run  upon  the  Prince  was 
carried  on  equally  by  the  "  Morning  Herald " 
and  the  "  Morning  Advertiser  "  till  ten  days  of 
the  meeting  of  Parliament,  when  the  former  was 
stopped  ;  the  latter  never  ceased.  I  have  heard 
it  surmised  more  than  once  that  these  attacks 
proceeded  from  Paris  and  were  paid  for  by  the 
Emperor  Louis  Napoleon,  but  I  never  could 
believe  it.  The  other  day  I  met  M.  Alexandre 
Thomas  at  dinner  at  Marble  Hill,  and  we  came 
to  town  together.  He  told  me  he  had  no  doubt 
the  abuse  of  the  Prince  was  the  work  of  the 
Emperor  and  paid  for  by  him.  ...  I  cannot 
help  partaking  in  the  opinion  that  the  whole 


144        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

thing  has  been  got  up,  managed,  and  paid  for  by 
Louis  Napoleon,  Walewski  (French  Ambassador), 
and  another  person  here. 


Mr.  Gladstone  wrote  an  elaborate  article  in 
the  "  Morning  Chronicle  "  (Jan.  16,  1854)  warmly 
defending  the  Court  against  attacks  that  had 
clouded  the  popularity  of  the  Prince  Consort. 
They  came  to  little  more  than  that  the  Prince 
attended  meetings  of  the  Privy  Council ;  that  he 
was  present  when  the  Queen  gave  an  audience 
to  a  Minister ;  that  he  thwarted  Ministerial 
counsels  and  gave  them  an  un-English  character ; 
that  in  corresponding  with  relatives  abroad  he 
used  English  influence  apart  from  the  Queen's 
advisers.  Mr.  Gladstone  had  no  great  "  difficulty  " 
in  showing  how  little  this  was  worth,  either  as 
fact  supported  by  evidence  or  as  principle  sup- 
ported by  the  fitness  of  things. 

What  Mr.  Gladstone  did  in  1854  we  "  had  no 
great  difficulty "  in  doing  in  1912 — not  much 
"  difficulty  "  in  showing  how  little  the  "  belittlings  " 
of  King  Edward  were  "  worth,  either  as  fact 
supported  by  evidence  or  as  principle  supported 
by  the  fitness  of  things." 

In  1789  there  were  newspaper  attacks  on  the 
Prince  of  Wales  and  the  Dukes  of  York,  Clarence, 
and  Cumberland. 

Mr.  John  Walter,  the  founder  (January  1,  1785) 
of  the  "  Times,"  died  in  November  1812,  in  the 
seventy-fourth  year  of  his  age ;  and  on  November 
16,  1912,  that  paper  commemorated  his  death  in 


CALUMNIATING  KING  EDWARD      145 

an  article  remarkable   for   its   admirable   candour 
and  regard  for  truth  : 

Walter  (we  read)  was  just  the  man  to  get  into 
conflict  with  the  law  of  those  days  by  nothing 
worse  than  an  outspoken  independence.  In 
1789  the  "  Times  "  appears  to  have  said  that  the 
rejoicing  of  the  Dukes  of  York,  Clarence,  and 
Cumberland  at  the  King's  recovery  was  insincere. 
For  this  Walter  was  prosecuted  for  a  libel  by  the 
Duke  of  York,  and  he  was  this  time  condemned 
to  pay  a  fine  of  £50,  to  undergo  a  year's  imprison- 
ment in  Newgate,  to  stand  in  the  pillory  for  an 
hour,  and  to  give  recognisances  for  good  behaviour 
for  seven  years.  During  his  imprisonment  he 
was  again  convicted  of  a  libel  not  merely  on  two 
of  the  same  Royal  Dukes,  but  on  the  Prince  of 
Wales  as  well.  Of  the  Prince  of  Wales  and  the 
Duke  of  York  the  "  Times  "  had  said  that  they 
had  incurred  the  just  disapprobation  of  the  King  ; 
of  the  Duke  of  Clarence,  that  he  had  returned 
home  from  his  command  afloat  without  the 
authority  of  the  Admiralty.  A  fine  of  £100 
was  inflicted  for  each  of  these  offences,  and  for 
the  former  Walter  was  also  sentenced  to  a  second 
term  of  a  year's  imprisonment,  to  follow  on  the 
expiry  of  the  sentence  he  was  at  the  time  under- 
going. But  before  the  second  term  had  expired 
the  King's  pardon  was  granted  to  him  at  the 
instance  of  the  Prince  of  Wales.  Walter  stated 
subsequently,  in  a  letter  to  Lord  Kenyon  which 
is  extant,  that  this  libel  was  directly  inspired  by 
the  Treasury,  from  which  he  was  accustomed, 
as  an  independent  supporter  of  the  Government, 
to  receive  private  communications  for  publication  ; 
but  that  when,  at  the  instance  of  the  Prince  of 
Wales,  he  was  prosecuted  at  the  suit  of  the  Treasury 


IO 


146        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

for  a  Treasury  offence  he  was  left  in  the  lurch  by  the 
Department, and  made  to  bear  the  whole  punishment 
of  fine  and  imprisonment  himself ;  for  he  disdained 
to  implicate  his  betrayers,  or  even  to  apply  for 
compensation.  It  is  possible  that  the  Prince  of 
Wales,  who  had  no  love  for  the  Government,  and 
was  not  without  impulses  of  generosity  in  his 
earlier  years,  had  some  inkling  of  this,  and  for  that 
reason  procured  Walter's  pardon  from  the  King. 

The  devoted  friend  and  undaunted  champion 
of  the  "  Peacemaker  of  Europe,"  Arminius 
Vambery,  wrote  to  me  from  Budapest  University  : 
"  Court  people  generally  shun  publicity,  and  silence 
or  close  curtains  are  much  more  valuable  in  their 
eyes  than  the  highest  praise  or  encomiums."  I  am 
in  full  accord  with  him.  I  honour  this  illustrious 
savant  for  what  he  has  written,  and  I  believe  all 
our  people  are  likewise  thankful  to  him. 

June  7,  1912,  is  a  "  date."  Three  events  hap- 
pened :  (1)  the  "  Daily  Telegraph's  "  famous  article 
appeared,  (2)  my  remonstrance  was  printed  in  the 
"Daily  Mail,"  and  (3)  M.  Ernest  Judet  improved 
the  occasion  by  circulating  among  the  thousands  of 
his  "Eclair  "  readers  the  most  outrageous  diatribe 
against  a  dead  man,  who  was  also  a  King,  that 
ever  befouled  a  newspaper  :  an  article  avowedly 
based  upon  the  extracts  from  the  Dictionary's 
Memoir  of  Edward  vn.,  which  had  appeared  in  the 
English  papers  only  the  previous  day.1 

1  A  full  translation  of  the  article  may  be  read  in  my  book.  On 
October  24,  1912,  the  "  Times  "  characterised  the  "  Eclair  "  as  an 
"  obscure  "  paper.  That  was  untrue,  for  that  journal  is  quoted 
almost  daily  by  the  "  Figaro  "  (1913),  and  very  frequently  by  the 
London  daily  papers  (Reuter's  telegrams). 


CALUMNIATING  KING  EDWARD      147 

I  come  to  the  next  act  of  the  tragedy  of  King 
Edward. 

On  September  24,  1912,  the  papers  once  more 
returned  to  the  subject  of  "  King  Edward,"  on 
account  of  an  article  in  the  "  Fortnightly  Review." 
The  honour  and  the  character  and  reputation  of 
a  great  King  were  at  stake.  The  British  Press 
generously  admitted  that  it  had  been  misled,  and 
that  Edward  the  Seventh  was  in  truth  the  potent 
Sovereign  the  world  had  thought  him  to  be,  and 
not  the  mediocrity,  the  "  roi  faineant,"  the  dullard, 
of  the  "informers." 

I  fully  realised  the  responsibility  I  was  in- 
curring in  daring  to  pronounce  an  adverse  verdict 
upon  the  work  of  the  Editor  of  the  Dictionary, 
who,  I  feel  certain,  took  all  possible  pains  to 
ensure  accuracy,  and  who  would  have  produced  a 
wholly  satisfactory  Memoir  had  he  submitted  it 
for  revision  to  some  competent  person ;  Lord 
Glenesk  having,  alas  !  passed  away  in  the  plenitude 
of  his  unrivalled  powers.  The  Memoir  was  an 
outrage  because  of  its  glaring  errors  of  fact  and  its 
insularity.  And  here  I  cannot  refrain  from  ex- 
pressing surprise  that  its  author  should  have 
accepted  as  truths  what  most  men  of  his  capacity 
and  scholarship  would  have  detected  as  errors 
and  eavesdroppings.  Scholarship  does  not  always 
make  the  complete  Editor.  There  are,  however, 
exceptions ;  Sir  Edwin  Arnold  was  one,  and  I 
could  name  others,  happily  still  among  us,  who 
are  brilliant  scholars  and  equally  brilliant  editors. 
But,  as  a  rule,  the  men  who  are  the  most  capable 


148        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

editors  and  can  claim  to  be  rarely  wrong  are  those 
who  have  gone  through  the  Sturm  und  Drang  of 
journalism.  These,  happily  for  the  public  well- 
being,  are  fairly  numerous. 

The  moment  the  "  Fortnightly  "  article,  "  King 
Edward  vn.  :  His  Character  and  Personality," 
was  circulated,  the  papers  seemed  to  be  genuinely 
anxious  to  make  the  real  facts  about  the  King 
known.  They  printed  columns  of  extracts  from 
that  article,  with  most  attractive  "  headings."  The 
"Times"  had  its  commendatory  note  (October  1) : 

Although  not  directly  connected  with  present- 
day  politics,  Mr.  Edward  Legge's  article  in  the 
"  Fortnightly "  on  "  King  Edward  vn.  :  His 
Character  and  Personality  '  will  be  widely  dis- 
cussed. It  shows  some  knowledge  of  facts  not 
generally  known,  but  over  and  beyond  this  it  is 
interesting  because  of  its  uncompromising  criticism 
of  several  of  the  statements  and  deductions  con- 
tained in  Sir  Sidney  Lee's  monograph  on  the  late 
King  in  the  "  Dictionary  of  National  Biography." 

What  did  this  mean  ? 

"  I  mentioned  at  the  time  that  King  Edward's 
circle  felt  themselves  outraged  by  Sir  Sidney  Lee's 
Memoir.  A  very  exalted  lady  has  now  gone  so  far 
as  to  ask  for  a  public  apology  from  the  author."  1 

This  statement  was  not  contradicted  by  Sir  S. 
Lee,  or  by  any  one  on  behalf  of  "  the  very  exalted 

1  "  Manchester  Guardian,"  November  20,  1912  (reproduced  on 
the  same  day  by  the  "  Pall  Mall  Gazette,"  which  termed  it  "  a 
piquant  item  "). 


CALUMNIATING  KING  EDWARD      149 

lady."  But  the  "  Nineteenth  Century— and  After  " 
published  in  the  following  month  (December  1912) 
an  article  by  Sir  S.  Lee  entitled  "At  a  Journey's 
End,"  an  exposition  of  the  whole  art  of  the 
biographer.  Some  might  have  discerned  in  that 
essay  an  oblique  reply  to  Professor  Vambery's  and 
my  criticisms  in  the  "  Fortnightly  Review  "  and 
in  "  King  Edward  in  his  True  Colours." 

Professor  Vambery,  after  reading  Sir  S.  Lee's 
article,  wrote  to  me  : 

'  The  author  of  the  caustic  criticism  [in  the 
Dictionary's  Memoir  of  King  Edward  vn.]  which 
we  thought  it  our  duty  to  oppose  seems  to  have 
taken  refuge  in  the  Latin  saying,  '  Contemptu 
multa  servantur.' 1  Such,  at  least,  can  be  read 
between  the  lines  of  the  article  published  in  the 
'  Nineteenth  Century — and  After,'  under  the  title 
of  '  At  a  Journey's  End.'  " 

I  cull  some  impressive  sentences  from  that 
article  : 

Where  suppression  is  required  useful  auxiliary 
guidance  is  offered  by  Cicero's  wise  dictum  that 
when  you  are  debarred  from  saying  all  that  is 
true  you  must  say  nothing  that  is  false  or  that 
conveys  a  false  impression.  The  contemporary 
biographer  who  works  on  these  lines  will  not  fall 
into  serious  error. 

This  is  admirably  put ;  but  has  Sir  Sidney  Lee 
lived  up  to  it  in  his  Memoir  of  Edward  vn.  ?  He 
has  told  the  Dictionary's  clientele  that  King 

1  "  Regard  with  contempt  those  who  attack  you  and  do  not 
trouble  to  answer  their  criticisms." 


150       MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

Edward  was  "  no  reader  of  books.  He  could  not 
concentrate  his  mind  upon  them."  Does  that, 
or  does  it  not,  "  convey  a  false  impression "  ? 
Professor  Vambery  terms  the  statement  "  the 
greatest  possible  calumny."  One  who  was  for 
many  years  intimately  associated  with  our  late 
Sovereign,  and  who  is  still  a  prominent  courtier, 
wrote  to  me  :  "It  is,  of  course,  absurd  to  say  that 
King  Edward  did  not  read  books." 

Another  close  friend  of  King  Edward  com- 
plained of  the  "belittling"  character  of  the 
Memoir. 

That  fiery  Paris  publicist,  M.  Ernest  Judet,  ac- 
claimed the  author  of  the  Dictionary's  Memoir  as 
"  this  honest  writer,"  and  published  in  his  widely- 
circulated  journal,  the  "  Eclair,"  a  vitriolic  article, 
extracts  from  which  were  given  in  the  "  Fortnightly 
Review  "  and  are  to  be  found  at  greater  length  in 
"  King  Edward  in  his  True  Colours."  The  trans- 
lation of  M.  Judet's  article  shocked,  as  it  was 
certain  to  shock,  English  readers.  I  reproduced  it 
for  the  express  purpose  of  showing  the  mischief 
which  the  Dictionary's  Memoir  was,  and  is,  capable 
of  doing. 

Sir  Sidney  Lee  wrote  in  the  ''  Nineteenth 
Century  "  : 

National  biography  which  hopes  for  a  long  life 
should  respect  the  needs  of  the  future  student, 
and  every  precaution  should  be  taken  against  the 
risk  of  misleading  him. 

An  excellent  precept.     I  am  sure  Sir  S.  Lee  took 


CALUMNIATING  KING  EDWARD      151 

every  "  precaution  against  the  risk  of  misleading 
the  future  student."  None  the  less  the  student  is 
to  be  pitied  who  believes  the  Dictionary's  rash 
assertion  that  King  Edward  "  was  no  reader  of 
books." 

We  read  on — 

The  biographer's  historic  sense  is  bound  at 
times  to  qualify  in  the  light  of  his  researches  the 
contemporary  estimate  of  a  career. 

This  principle  is  adopted  in  the  Memoir  with 
the  result  that  those  (if  there  still  be  any)  who 
pin  their  faith  to  the  article  in  the  "  Dictionary 
of  National  Biography  "  must  believe  that  the 
eminent  men  of  all  countries  and  the  Press  of 
the  whole  world  talked  nonsense,  and  worse 
than  nonsense,  when,  in  May  1910,  they  eulogised 
the  King's  diplomatic  skill,  and  spoke  of  him 
as  the  "Peacemaker,"  "  a  title,"  says  Sir  S. 
Lee  in  his  Memoir,  "which  is  symbolically  just, 
but  is  misleading  if  it  be  taken  to  imply  any  personal 
control  of  diplomacy."  Moreover,  the  Editor  of 
the  Dictionary  would  have  us  believe  that  it  was 
merely  "  some  French  journalists "  who  "  be- 
stowed on  the  King  the  title  of  '  le  Roi  Pacifi- 
cateur  '  !  5:  Did,  then,  the  whole  world — British 
and  Colonial  statesmen  and  the  British,  Colonial, 
Continental,  and  American  Press  included — take 
their  cue  from  "  some  French  journalists,"  and 
thenceforward  refer  to  our  departed  Sovereign 
as  the  "  Peacemaker "  without  pausing  to  ask 


152        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

themselves  whether  the  title  was  only  "  sym- 
bolically just  "  ?  Let  the  reader  turn  to  the  book 
on  Edward  vn.,  and  to  the  newspapers  of  June 
24,  25,  26,  and  27,  1913,1  and  he  will  find  over- 
whelming testimony  as  to  the  accuracy  of  the 
title.  That  accuracy  has  never  been,  and  never 
will  be,  questioned  outside  the  narrow  and  un- 
enviable circle  of  the  "  belittlers." 

"  Every  serious  biographer,"  writes  Sir  S. 
Lee,  "  prays  for  '  the  happy  talent '  with  which 
Cowper  credited  Johnson  of  '  correcting  the 
popular  opinion  upon  all  occasions  where  it  is 
erroneous.'  ...  A  man's  public  achievements 
are  the  man's  gift  to  the  world,  and  are  at  the 
world's  service  to  be  described  and  valued  by 
efficient  biography  in  a  spirit  of  becoming  charity, 
but  at  the  same  time  in  a  spirit  of  liberty  and 
historic  truthfulness." 

In  a  defamatory  article  in  the  "  Eclair  "  (June  7, 
1912),2  M.  Ernest  Judet,  in  his  panegyric  of  the 
author  of  the  Dictionary's  Memoir  of  Edward  vn., 
wrote : 

The  English  spoil  us.  They  themselves  bring 
us  successively  all  the  proofs  of  the  mystification 
of  which  we  were  nearly  the  victims,  thanks  to  the 
thoughtlessness  and  the  trickery  of  a  Delcasse. 
Let  us  recall  the  brilliant  eulogies  of  M.  Poincare 
in  front  of  the  monument  at  Cannes,3  and  the 
triumphant  gratitude  of  the  tradesfolk  and  the 

1  The  "  Poincare  "  week. 

2  Vide  the  "Fortnightly  Review"  (October   1912)  and   "King 
Edward  in  his  True  Colours." 

3  April  13,  1912. 


CALUMNIATING  KING  EDWARD      153 

tourists  of  the  Cote  d'Azur  when  M.  Poincare 
evoked  amidst  applause  King  Edward's  "  keen 
good  sense,  his  spirituelle  bonhomie,  instinctive 
diplomacy,  and  the  supreme  art  of  adaptation, 
which  were  the  characteristics  of  his  genius" 
(italicised  in  the  original).  What  did  not  M. 
Poincare  add  to  justify  his  enthusiasm  ?  M. 
Poincare's  panegyric  was  altogether  unrestrained 
when  it  passed  to  the  intervention  of  Edward  vn. 
in  the  preparatory  work  and  the  consummation 
of  the  entente  cordiale.  What  a  disconcerting 
contrast  it  presents  with  the  English  writer's  Memoir, 
so  disenchanting,  so  mortifying  for  the  bluff  which 
has  kept  a  whole  generation  under  the  influence  of  its 
delusions !  It  requires  the  tenacious  credulity 
and  the  stubbornness  of  the  woman  who  wants  to 
be  beaten  to  question  the  rectifications  and  the 
details  of  that  with  which  the  sudden  frankness  of 
our  neighbours  across  the  Channel  gratifies  us, 
although  tardily. 

To  acquaint  the  British  public  with  the  outrage 
perpetrated  on  King  Edward  by  the  French  writer 
was,  I  was  told,  "  playing  into  the  hands  of  the 
King's  enemies  "  !  I  took  a  different  view ;  for, 
after  all,  M.  Jtidet  was  only  gloating  over  the 
Dictionary's  "  showing-up  "  of  the  late  Sovereign's 
fictitious  f aiblesses ;  and.  as  a  French  patriot, 
he  was  within  his  right  in  expressing  his  candid 
opinion  of  Edward  vn.,  for  he  honestly  believed  in 
the  fidelity  of  the  portrait  painted  of  him  by  the 
Editor  of  the  ' '  Dictionary  of  National  Biography," 
"in  a  spirit  of  becoming  charity." 

And  on  this  point  these  reflections  of  the  author 
of  "  Religio  Medici  "  ("  Enquiries  into  vulgar  and 


154        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

common  errors  ")  may  be  read  with  profit,  for  what 
the  learned  physician  published  in  1646  holds  good 
in  1913  i1 

Now,  as  there  are  many  great  wits  to  be  con- 
demned who  have  neglected  the  increment  of  arts 
and  the  sedulous  pursuit  of  knowledge,  so  there 
are  not  a  few  very  much  to  be  pitied  whose  industry 
being  not  attended  with  natural  parts,  they  have 
sweat  to  little  purpose,  and  rolled  the  stone  in 
vain.  Which  chiefly  proceedeth  from  natural 
incapacity  and  genial  indisposition,  at  least,  to 
those  particulars  whereunto  they  apply  their 
endeavours.  And  this  is  one  reason  why,  though 
universities  be  full  of  men,  they  are  oftentimes 
empty  of  learning  ;  why,  as  there  are  some  men  do 
much  without  learning,  so  others  but  little  with  it, 
and  few  that  attain  to  any  measure  of  it.  For 
many  heads,  that  undertake  it,  were  never  squared 
nor  timber'd  for  it. 

A  third  cause  of  common  errors  is  the  credulity 
of  men ;  that  is,  an  easy  assent  to  what  is  obtruded, 
or  a  believing,  at  first  ear,  what  is  delivered  by  others. 
This  is  a  weakness  in  the  understanding,  without 
examination  assenting  unto  things,  which,  from 
their  natures  and  causes,  do  carry  no  persuasion  ; 
whereby  men  often  swallow  falsities  for  truths, 
dubiosities  for  certainties,  feasibilities  for  possibilities, 
and  things  impossible  as  possibilities  themselves. 
Which,  though  a  weakness  of  the  intellect  and  most 
discoverable  in  vulgar  heads,  yet  hath  it  sometime 
fallen  upon  wiser  brains  and  great  advancers  of 
truth. 

A  fourth  cause  of  error  is  a  supinity,  or  neglect 
of  enquiry,  even  of  matters  whereby  we  doubt ; 

1  "  Pseudodoxia  Epidemica."     By  Sir  Thomas  Browne.     Lon- 
don :  H.  G.  Bohn,  1846. 


CALUMNIATING  KING  EDWARD      155 

rather  believing  than  going  to  see,  or  doubting 
with  ease  and  gratis  than  believing  with  difficulty 
or  purchase. 


The  "  Times  "  l  made  this  frank  admission  : 
"  Sir  Sidney  Lee  and  his  contributors  have  com- 
piled a  sterling  three-volumes  supplement  to  the 
'Dictionary  of  National  Biography,'  which  contains 
much  sound  and  some  disputable  matter.  Sir 
Sidney's  Life  of  King  Edward  in  that  supplement 
has  been  hotly  discussed." 

On  October  24  the  "  Times,"  in  its  notice  of 
"  King  Edward  in  his  True  Colours,"  extolled  the 
chapters  by  Comte  d'Haussonvilte  and  Professor 
Vambery,  the  latter  of  whom  roundly  asserted 
that  the  Dictionary's  Memoir  calumniated  King 
Edward  in  the  passage  declaring  that  the  King 
was  no  reader  of  "  books — could  not  concentrate 
his  mind  upon  them."  Of  Sir  Sidney  Lee  and 
myself  the  "Times"  said:  "Both  disputants  are 
right." 

On  June  6  the  "  Times,"  reviewing  the  Dic- 
tionary's Memoir,  had  covered  Sir  Sidney  Lee 
with  glory  ;  and  had  failed  to  discover  anything 
"  disputable  "  in  it. 

For  thirty-five  years  the  late  Sir  Richard 
Holmes  was  librarian  at  Windsor  Castle,  and  so 
had  charge  of  what  he  declared  to  be  one  of  the 
finest  collections  of  books  in  the  world.  Sir 
Richard  considered  King  Edward  one  of  the 
best-informed  men  in  the  world  : 

1  December  31,  1912  ("  Review  of  the  Year  "). 


156       MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

I  recollect  one  evening  when  Professor  Vam- 
bery,  the  great  authority  on  Eastern  Europe,  and 
an  old  friend  of  mine,  was  visiting  him  at  Windsor. 
His  Majesty  sent  for  me  to  join  them,  and  for  an 
hour  or  two  they  discussed  the  problems  of  that 
region.  I  listened,  and,  as  I  listened,  I  marvelled 
that  the  King  should  be  able  to  hold  his  own  in 
talk  with  a  world- wide  authority  upon  his  own 
particular  subject.  He  had  a  wonderfully  re- 
tentive memory.  It  has  been  said  of  him  often 
that  he  never  forgot  faces.  I  think  it  is  equally 
accurate  to  say  that  he  scarcely  ever  forgot  facts. 

He  was  proud  of  the  fine  library  at  Windsor,  and 
would  make  a  point  of  taking  Royal  visitors  over  it 
himself.  He  would  have  been  there  much  oftener  if 
it  had  not  been  so  far  away  from  the  Royal  apartments. 
There  was  nearly  a  mile  to  walk !  It  was  this 
distance  which  made  him  decide  to  take  the 
collection  of  miniatures  away  from  the  library  and 
to  put  them  where  they  could  be  more  easily  seen 
by  his  guests.  This  was  only  one  of  the  many 
changes  he  had  to  make  at  Windsor.  When  he 
came  to  the  throne  he  inherited  two  residences, 
Windsor  Castle  and  Buckingham  Palace,  where 
everything  had  been  left  exactly  as  it  was  in  the 
Prince  Consort's  time.  Queen  Victoria  never  had 
anything  altered.  She  did  not  like  anything  upon 
which  Prince  Albert  had  looked  to  be  moved. 

Many  books  from  the  Prince  Consort's  collec- 
tion at  Buckingham  Palace  were  sent  to  Sandring- 
ham,  where  King  Edward  took  the  greatest  interest 
in  his  library.  He  was  pleased  to  consult  me  in 
connection  with  it.  He  was  anxious  to  make  it  a 
feature  of  the  house.  Of  course,  he  did  not  try  to 
rival  national  collections,  but  as  a  private  library 
the  one  at  Sandringham  stands  very  high.  Some 
of  his  entourage  were  inclined  to  consider  it  an 


CALUMNIATING  KING  EDWARD      157 

extravagance,  but  the  King  would  not  hear  of 
objections.  He  was  determined  to  make  it  as 
complete  as  possible? 

The  Dictionary's  accusation  that  King  Edward 
was  "no  reader  of  books"  is  met  also  in  very 
positive  terms  by  the  writer  of  a  criticism  of  Sir 
Henry  Burdett's  "  Prince,  Princess,  and  People " 
in  the  ''Quarterly  Review"  as  far  back  as  1889. 
An  extract  from  this  article  is  given  in  the  chapters 
on  "  The  Attributes  of  King  Edward,"  so  it  is  only 
necessary  to  say  here  that  the  Quarterly  Reviewer 
emphasises  the  King's  "  very  considerable  knowledge 
of  art,  science,  and  literature" 

The  mischievous  effect  of  the  Dictionary's 
Memoir  has  been  already  illustrated  by  reference 
to  the  article  published  in  the  Paris  "  Eclair." 
That  Memoir  is  also  responsible  for  the  extra- 
ordinary change  it  wrought  upon  Mr.  Keir  Hardie. 
That  gentleman,  addressing  a  meeting  of  Socialists 
at  the  Prince's  Theatre,  Preston,  on  Sunday, 
May  8,  1910,  expressed  his  sense  of  the  national 
loss  in  these  graceful  terms  : 

Needless  to  say  I  associate  myself  with  what 
has  fallen  from  our  Chairman  concerning  the  death 
of  King  Edward.  One's  opinions  of  the  Throne  as 
an  Institution  need  not  necessarily  bias  our  judg- 
ment against  its  occupant.  "  Render  unto  Caesar 
the  things  that  are  Caesar's,  and  unto  God  the 
things  that  are  God's."  I  say  with  perfect  sincerity 
that  since  the  late  King  Edward  ascended  the 
Throne  he  has  added  both  dignity  and  lustre  to 

1  "  Daily  Mail,"  May  21,  1910. 


158        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

his  great  position,  and  I  can  only  express  the  hope 
that  his  successor  may  follow  worthily  in  his 
father's  steps. 

Exactly  two  years  later  the  Dictionary's 
Memoir  appears,  and,  after  reading  it,  Mr.  Hardie 
changes  his  loyal  tone  and  unreservedly  accepts 
the  Memoir  as  giving  a  true  portrait  of  the  King  ! 

The  Merthyr  "  Pioneer "  of  June  22,  1912, 
published  a  review  of  the  Memoir,  headed  "  King 
Edward  and  Others.  By  J.  Keir  Hardie,  M.P." 
The  London  papers  devoted  only  a  few  lines  to 
this  eulogy  of  Sir  Sidney  Lee.  I  will  be  more 
generous,  but  only  for  the  purpose  of  showing 
how  entirely  the  iconoclastic  Royalty-hater  and 
the  eminent  author  of  the  Memoir  are  now  in 
accord. 

First,  however,  I  must  note  that  in  a  little 
volume  entitled  "The  Golden  Book  of  King 
Edward  vn.,"  I  find  this  further  confirmation  of 
the  authoritative  statements  contained  in  the 
"  Fortnightly  Review ':  and  in  my  work,  and 
bearing  out  the  views  of  Sir  Richard  Holmes  : 

As  for  King  Edward's  literary  tastes,  which 
are  evinced  in  the  Royal  library  at  Sandringham, 
it  is  evident  that  his  chief  interest  was  in  the  history 
of  his  country,  and  especially  of  his  own  time. 
He  bought  every  work  he  could  hear  of  dealing  with 
the  public  or  private  administration  of  the  Eastern 
Empire,  with  the  history  of  the  Crimean  War,  with 
Colonial  history,  and  reports  of  the  Indian  Mutiny. 
The  collection  generally  is  that  of  a  man  of  business 
whose  interests  are  many  and  diverse. 


CALUMNIATING  KING  EDWARD      159 

Like  M.  Judet,  Mr.  Keir  Hardie,  a  man  of  un- 
doubted ability,  unfortunately  misdirected,  wel- 
comes the  Dictionary's  Memoir  as  an  exposure 
of  King  Edward's  incapacity  and  weaknesses. 
Throughout  his  long  article  reviewing  its  deplor- 
able assertions  and  innuendos,  Mr.  Hardie  ridicules 
the  King,  finding  his  justification  for  doing  so  in 
the  gaucheries  contained  in  the  Dictionary.  Here 
is  convincing  proof,  if  any  were  needed,  that  the 
Dictionary  has  delivered  Queen  Alexandra's  con- 
sort into  the  hands  of  the  Socialistic  and  Monarchy- 
hating  enemy.  The  few  papers  which  have  done 
their  best  to  shield  Sir  Sidney  Lee  from  my  criti- 
cisms and  from  the  heavy  batteries  of  the  "  Daily 
Telegraph ''  and  the  "  Daily  Mail "  may  make 
the  best  they  can  of  Mr.  Hardie's  championship 
and  eulogies  of  that  gentleman. 

Mr.  Hardie,  after  assuring  us  that  Queen 
Victoria's  "  mental  make-up  and  whole  attitude 
was  (  of  the  petty  bourgeois  or  lower-middle 
class,"  proceeds  : 

Then  came  King  Edward,  who,  during  his 
short  reign,  was  raised  to  the  highest  pinnacle  of 
fame  for  his  efforts  in  the  cause  of  international 
peace.  During  the  last  two  or  three  years  of  his 
life  it  was  as  "  Edward  the  Peacemaker  "  that  he 
was  best  known.  Now  we  know  that  the  title  was 
wholly  fictitious,  and  that  whilst  he  was  supposed  to 
be  labouring  abroad  for  his  country's  good  he  was 
simply  enjoying  himself  as  a  very  amiable,  pleasure- 
loving  man  of  the  world,  who  was  bored  by  politics 
and  had  not  the  capacity  to  understand  foreign 
relationships.  The  nation  is  indebted  to  Sir  Sidney 


160       MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

Lee  for  putting  us  in  possession  oj  some  of  the  out- 
standing facts  of  the  life  of  King  Edward.  Those 
who  wish  to  read  them  at  length  will  find  them 
embodied  in  the  last  issued  volume  of  the  ' '  National 
Dictionary  of  Biography." 

Mr.  Hardie,  who  had  referred  to  the  King  so 
generously  in  1910,  now  revels  in  the  depreciatory 
passages  which  disfigure  the  Memoir  : 

In  the  early  years  of  the  nineteenth  century 
the  slightest  incident  would  have  toppled  the 
Monarchy  in  this  country  over  and  established  a 
Republic.  It  is  only  during  the  past  twenty-five 
years  that  this  feeling  has  almost  died  out,  and  it 
was  a  common  prediction  about  the  time  of  the 
Mordaunt  scandal  that  Christian  England  would 
never  tolerate  the  Prince  of  Wales  ascending  the 
throne. 

Even  as  King  Edward  vn.  he  took  but  a  languid 
interest  in  politics.  Every  night  when  Parlia- 
ment is  sitting  the  Prime  Minister  sends  an  officii 
note  of  the  business  of  the  day  to  the  Sovereign, 
Queen  Victoria,  even  to  the  end,  read  this  care- 
fully and  criticised  and  made  comments  upon  its 
contents.  It  is  doubtful  whether  Edward  ever 
read  the  documents  although  they  were  type- 
written for  his  special  benefit.  If  he  did  read 
them,  he  made  no  comments.  .  .  .  His  love  of 
pleasure  remained  his  ruling  passion.  He  liked 
the  excitement  of  the  turf,  from  which,  by  the  way, 
he  made  a  very  large  income.  He  liked  the  frivol 
ity  of  Continental  watering-places.  During  those 
periods  when  treaties  were  being  made  with  France 
and  other  Powers  he,  happening  to  be  enjoying  him- 
self abroad  at  the  same  time,  was  credited  with 
being  their  real  author,  whereas  it  is  really  doubtful 


CALUMNIATING  KING  EDWARD      161 

whether  he  even  knew  of  their  existence.  Mr.  Swift 
MacNeill,  M.P.,  used  to  wax  frantic  at  the  King 
going  about  negotiating  treaties  behind  the  backs 
of  his  responsible  ministers.  We  now  know  how 
groundless  were  his  fears.  He  certainly  took  no 
active  part  in  the  negotiations.  "  He  cannot" 
says  Sir  Sidney  Lee,  "  be  credited  with  broad  diplo- 
matic views  or  the  faculty  for  tactical  negotiation. 
.  .  .  To  his  unguarded  utterances  no  real  weight 
attached  either  at  home  or  abroad."  Thus,  whilst 
he  was  supposed  to  be  labouring  in  the  interests  of 
peace,  he  was  in  the  full  "  enjoyment  of  life  under 
foreign  skies  quite  unencumbered  by  the  burden  of 
diplomatic  anxieties."  It  was  with  difficulty  that 
he  would  be  induced  to  meet  the  late  Sir  Henry 
Campbell-Bannerman  even  at  a  private  dinner. 
The  Budget,  he  thought,  was  laying  burdens  upon 
land  and  property,  and  caused  him  much  "  searching 
of  heart,"  and  Sir  Sidney  Lee  finally  sums  him  up 
in  these  words  :  "  No  originating  political  faculty 
can  be  assigned  him.  .  .  .  King  Edward  cannot  be 
credited  with  the  greatness  that  comes  of  statesman- 
ship and  makes  for  the  moulding  of  history." 

I  have  given  only  a  few  extracts  from  Mr.  Keir 
Hardie's  article,  containing  most  of  the  points  in  the 
Dictionary's  Memoir  which  tell  against  the  King. 
What  a  handle  for  the  Socialists  !  They  will  be 
testimonialising  the  Editor  of  the  Dictionary  one  of 
these  days,  for  he  has  furnished  them  with  material 
which,  although  some  of  it  is,  as  the  "  Times  " 
admits,  "  disputable,"  they  would  be  more  than 
human  not  to  utilise.  "  The  late  King  Edward  was 
clearly  a  man  of  very  amiable  disposition,  but  limited 
intellect." 
ii 


162       MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

Inspired  by  the  helpful  Dictionary,  Mr.  Hardie 
made  a  few  concluding  remarks  which  showed 
how  deeply  his  heart  had  been  stirred  by  the 
Memoir : 

The  man  [King  Edward]  never  had  a  chance  in 
life.  That,  however,  has  nothing  to  do  with  the 
fact  that  because  he  was  born  to  be  a  king  the 
nation  was  supposed  to  worship  him  as  though  he 
had  been  a  god.  In  these  modern  days  there  is 
nothing  for  a  king  to  do  except  to  aid  in  the  work 
of  hoodwinking  the  common  people.  The  role 
assigned  him  is  that  of  leading  mime  in  the  panto- 
mime in  which  the  great  unthinking  multitude  is 
kept  amused  while  it  is  being  imposed  upon,  and 
there  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  the  present 
occupier  of  the  throne  in  any  way  differs  from  either 
his  grandmother  or  his  father.  He,  like  them, 
is  of  under  stature,  and  has  never  given  any  indi- 
cation of  more  than  very  ordinary  intelligence.  I 
know  of  nothing  quite  so  revolting  as  his  marriage. 
It  will  be  remembered  that  his  brother,  the  Duke 
of  Clarence,  was  engaged  to  be  married  to  the 
Princess  Mary  ;  he  was  seized  with  illness,  and 
died.  In  the  course  of  a  few  months  the  betrothed 
of  the  deceased  prince  was  transferred  to  his 
brother,  and  ultimately  married  him.  The  thing 
was  a  public  scandal,  and  no  man  of  any  character 
would  have  submitted  to  it. 

There  is  nothing  kingly  about  either  the  office 
or  person  of  the  modern  king.  He  is  no  longer 
a  leader  or  a  ruler.  He  does  not  lead  forth  the 
hosts  in  war,  nor  does  he  hold  turbulent  barons  in 
awe.  A  king  is  an  anachronism  in  these  days, 
and  is  only  kept  in  being  as  a  valuable  asset  of  the 
ruling  class.  As  such  no  self-respecting  workman 
can  have  either  act  or  part  in  any  official  welcome. 


CALUMNIATING  KING  EDWARD      163 

These,  then,  are  Mr.  Hardie's  opinions  as 
expressed  in  his  review  of  Sir  Sidney  Lee's  Memoir 
of  Edward  vn.  If  Mr.  Hardie  is  reproached  for 
what  he  has  written  he  may  fairly  retort  that  in 
what  he  has  said  about  that  Sovereign  he  has  only 
echoed  the  "  Dictionary  of  National  Biography," 
which  he  evidently,  and  rightly,  regards  as  some- 
thing for  which  the  Socialists,  whose  ranks  are 
daily  swelling,  have  every  reason  to  be  grateful. 
He  possibly  considers  Sir  Sidney  Lee  to  be  on  the 
same  plane  as  himself  and  his  brother  Socialists 
and  would-be  wreckers  of  the  Monarchy.  This 
may  not  be  precisely  what  Sir  Sidney  Lee  antici- 
pated ;  but  there  is  the  position,  and  it  is  for  him, 
if  he  can,  to  disentangle  himself  from  it. 

Some  few  of  Sir  Sidney  Lee's  admirers  have 
been  unintentionally  the  means  of  increasing  the 
popularity  of  "  King  Edward  in  his  True  Colours  " 
by  denouncing  me  for  my  criticism  of  the  writer 
of  the  Memoir  of  Edward  vn.  I  may  say  with 
Congreve  :  "I  was  conscious  where  a  true  critic 
might  have  put  me  on  my  defence.  I  was  prepared 
for  the  attack  .  .  .  but  I  have  not  heard  anything 
said  sufficient  to  provoke  an  answer."  l 

As  it  is  said  that  King  Edward's  memory  is 
to  be  still  further  insulted  by  the  issue  of  a 
cheap  edition  of  the  Dictionary's  Memoir,  it  is 
desirable  that  all  King  George's  subjects — particu- 
larly those  in  the  colonies  —  should  realise  the 
tendency  of  that  Memoir  and  the  deplorable  effects 
it  may  possibly  produce  unless  the  antidote  to  the 

1  "  Epistle  Dedicatory  "  to  the  Right  Hon.  Charles  Montague. 


164       MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

bane  is  placed  before  them.  One  of  many  such 
antidotes  was  provided  by  the  "  Daily  Mail," 
which,  in  a  review  1  of  the  Dictionary's  Memoir, 
endorsed  every  point  of  the  criticism  of  that 
Memoir  contained  in  "  King  Edward  in  his  True 
Colours "  and  previously  in  the  "  Fortnightly 
Review,"  a  very  striking  proof  of  the  precise 
similarity  of  thought  between  two  minds,  and  a 
proof  also  that  the  writer  ("An  Englishman  ") 
of  the  "  Mail's "  scathing  denunciation  of  the 
Dictionary's  Memoir  had  had  the  advantage  of 
perusing  my  volume  before  penning  his  article. 
All  that  is  printed  in  a  daily  newspaper  is  neces- 
sarily ephemeral — read  to-day  and  forgotten  to- 
morrow. For  the  reason  which  I  have  given  I 
am  perpetuating  parts  of  the  "  Mail's  "  article, 
which  is  as  creditable  to  its  author  as  to  the 
popular  journal  in  which  it  was  published  : 

When  Sir  Sidney  Lee's  article  first  appeared 
it  was  received  with  an  almost  unbroken  chorus 
of  praise.  Here,  we  were  told,  is  a  perfect  specimen 
of  biography,  just,  true,  and  courageous.  The 
passage  of  a  few  months  has  already  corrected  the 
favourable  verdict.  To  read  the  biography  at  leisure 
is  to  discover  a  bias  to  which  the  "Dictionary  of 
Biography  "  has  always  been  proclaimed  a  stranger. 

Sir  Sidney  is  careful  to  tell  us  that  in  preparing 
his  article  he  "  has  had  the  benefit  of  much  private 
information."  He  does  not  tell  us  whence  the 
information  came  or  by  whom  it  was  imparted.  It  is 
impossible,  therefore,  to  put  a  high  value  upon  it. 
Before  we  accept  his  authorities  we  must  know  what 

1  October  26,  1912. 


CALUMNIATING  KING  EDWARD      165 

they  are  and  cross-examine  them  (so  to  say)  in  the 
light  of  their  prejudice.  The  unsupported  state- 
ment of  A  to  B  is  tittle-tattle,  and  no  more.  The 
untested  judgment  of  an  unnamed  critic  in  so  difficult 
a  matter  as  the  character  of  a  king  is  not  worth  more 
than  the  echo  of  the  voice  that  spoke  it.  Nor  can 
we  take  much  comfort  in  the  statement  that  Sir 
Sidney  Lee  was  privileged  to  consult  the  unpub- 
lished papers  of  Sir  Charles  Dilke. 

Whatever  was  the  process  of  the  biography,  its  result 
is  to  belittle  the  character  and  judgment  of  Edward  VII. 
You  rise  from  a  reading  of  it  with  a  sense  of  amiable 
incompetence.  In  small  things,  as  in  great, 
Edward  VII.  seems  to  have  failed  lamentably. 
Queen  Victoria  hesitated  to  ask  his  advice,  we  are 
told,  because  "  she  deprecated  the  discussion  of 
national  secrets  over  country  house  dinner  tables." 
From  which  owner  of  private  information,  I 
wonder,  was  this  priceless  gem  of  tact  obtained  ? 
Even  at  bridge,  "  though  he  played  regularly  and 
successfully,  he  developed  a  moderate  skill." 
This  is  a  cryptic  saying.  .  .  .  Worse  still,  when 
tried  by  the  standard  of  the  schoolroom,  our  late 
King  is  given  no  marks  at  all.  His  "  dramatic 
criticism  "  was  much  at  fault,  and  this  is  not  the 
worst.  !<  He  lacked  the  intellectual  equipment  of 
a  thinker,  and  showed  on  occasion  an  unwilling- 
ness to  exert  his  mental  powers.  He  was  no 
reader  of  books."  Again  we  demand  some  sort  of 
authority  for  these  absolute  statements.  The  mere 
word  of  a  biographer  is  insufficient.  Before  we 
accepted  it  we  should  want  the  evidence  of  a  dozen 
witnesses  supported  by  signed  and  attested  documents. 
And  if  it  be  true,  is  it  not  wholly  irrelevant  ? 
Why  should  a  king  be  a  dramatic  critic  or  a  reader 
of  books  ?  His  life  is  given  to  affairs  and  far  more 
difficult  pursuits  than  "  intellectual  thinking." 


166        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

After  all,  they  profit  most  by  books  who  can  do 
most  without  them. 

In  politics,  foreign  and  domestic,  Sir  Sidney 
Lee  allows  Edward  VII.  no  ability.  .  .  .  As  at 
home,  so  abroad,  he  could  do  nothing  right.  The 
impression  was  encouraged  that  he  "  was  exerting 
abroad  diplomatic  powers  which,  under  the  Con- 
stitution, belonged  to  Ministers  alone." 

It  was  an  impression  only.  For,  if  we  may  believe 
Sir  Sidney  Lee,  Edward  VII.  achieved  very  little 
in  the  counsels  of  Europe.  ((  No  originating  political 
faculty  can  be  assigned  to  him."  "  He  was  a 
peacemaker  not  through  the  exercise  of  any 
diplomatic  initiative."  The  French  journalists 
who  called  him  "  le  Roi  Pacificateur  "  were  "  mere 
rhetoricians."  "  The  title,"  says  Sir  Sidney,  "  is 
symbolically  just,  but  is  misleading  if  it  be  taken 
to  imply  any  personal  control  of  diplomacy." 
Time,  I  believe,  will  prove  the  injustice  of  these  words. 

Of  the  entente  cordiale  it  may  be  said  that 
Edward  vn.  was  actually  and  visibly  the  creator. 
.  .  .  But  even  if  all  the  miscellaneous  information 
collected  here  and  there  by  Sir  Sidney  ^Lee  had  the 
merit  of  truth,  which  few  would  admit,  it  would  still 
have  been  a  monstrous  error  in  tact  to  publish  it.  We 
are  far  too  near  the  death  of  Edward  vn.  and  the 
public  controversies  which  attended  it  to  form  a 
definite  estimate  of  his  character  and  genius. 
Above  all,  being  a  king,  he  deserved  the  tribute  of 
discretion? 

Further  confirmation  of  the  accuracy  of  my 
views  of  the  Dictionary's  Memoir  of  King  Edward 

1  Sir  Sidney  Lee  did  not  reply  to  the  "Daily  Mail's"  criticism, 
although  he  had  replied  to  the  "Daily  Telegraph's"  denunciatory 
leading  article  in  June  1912,  and  by  so  doing  brought  upon  himself 
further  censure. 


CALUMNIATING  KING  EDWARD      167 

was  furnished  by  the  London  Press  as  recently 
as  June  24,  1913,  the  day  of  the  arrival  of  M. 
Poincare.  In  a  leading  article  on  that  event  the 
"  Times  "  said  :  "  When  M.  Fallieres  was  our 
guest  [1908],  the  friendship  of  which  King  Edward 
and  M.  Loubet  sowed  the  seed  had  proved  that  it 
was  too  deep-rooted  for  any  storms  to  shake." 

The  "  Daily  Mail's  "  leading  article  on  the  same 
day  contained  these  words  :  "  The  Entente,  which 
owed  its  birth  to  the  late  King  Edward's  memorable 
mission  to  Paris  just  ten  years  ago,  has  since 
proved  its  strength  and  value  in  a  hundred  ways." 

The  principal  Republican  journal,  the  Paris 
"  Temps "  (June  29,  1913),  has  again  declared 
that  King  Edward  was  one  of  the  two  authors  of 
the  entente  :  "  Sachons  rendre  grace  aux  auteurs 
du  rapprochement  de  1904,  le  Roi  Edouard  VII.  et 
M.  Delcasse" 

What  does  Sir  Sidney  Lee  say  of  the  King  and 
the  Entente  ?  He  says  this  :  "  No  direct  responsi- 
bility for  its  initiation  or  conclusion  belonged  to 
him  [the  King].  .  .  .  The  King  had  no  conception 
of  any  readjustment  of  the  balance  of  European 
power."  And  to  this  opinion  he  sticks.  The 
opinions  of  the  "  Times  "  and  of  the  "  Daily  Mail  " 
are,  I  suppose,  as  naught  to  him.  As  for  M. 
Poincare,  he  is,  doubtless,  in  Sir  Sidney  Lee's  eyes, 
a  negligible  quantity.  Nevertheless  we  will  see 
what  the  President  said  on  this  particular  point 
at  the  Guildhall  on  June  25.  M.  Poincare's  words 
(reported  in  the  papers  on  June  26)  were  these : 
'  In  1904  an  understanding  was  reached  which  put 


168        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

an  end  to  all  differences  in  the  relations  between 
England  and  France,  and  not  one  of  my  com- 
patriots has  forgotten  the  impulse  which  was  given 
on  that  decisive  occasion  by  His  Majesty  King 
Edward  VII.  to  the  creation  of  a  concord  which  has 
survived  him." 

And  in  his  "  Message  to  the  British  Nation  " 
(published  in  the  papers  on  June  26)  M.  Poincare 
said  :  "  The  visit  I  have  come  to  pay  to  His 
Majesty  King  George  affords  me  a  unique  oppor- 
tunity of  testifying  to  the  unanimous  sentiments 
of  the  French  nation  towards  the  son  of  the  Glorious 
Sovereign  under  whose  auspices  the  fruitful  friend- 
ship between  Great  Britain  and  France  was  estab- 
lished:9 

"  Monsieur  Poincare  is  as  clear-headed  and 
wholehearted  a  believer  in  what  he  called  yesterday 
'  the  fraternal  confidence  and  commonweal  of  the 
two  peoples '  as  was  the  King  who  took  the  first  step 
ten  years  since  to  make  such  relations  possible" 
("  Daily  Telegraph,"  June  26.) 

The  extracts  here  given  are  alone  sufficient  to 
discredit  the  Dictionary's  Memoir  ;  but  the  papers 
which  printed  these  articles  and  circulated  them 
in  the  dawn  perish  at  sunset.  Enshrined  within 
the  covers  of  a  book  they  remain  as  living  witnesses. 

This  letter,  signed  "  W.,"  and  headed  "  King 
Edward  and  the  Entente,"  appeared  in  the  "Pall 
Mall  Gazette  "  on  June  7,  1912,  the  day  on  which 
my  first  criticism  of  the  Dictionary's  Memoir 
was  published  in  the  "Daily  Mail"  and  for  which 
a  very  prominent  member  of  the  Court  of  to-day 


CALUMNIATING  KING  EDWARD      169 

warmly  thanked  me  in  writing.  "  W.'s  "  letter, 
herewith  given,  is  one  more  confirmation  of  my 
views  of  the  "  belittlings  "  : 

That  Sir  Sidney  Lee,  in  his  biography  of  the 
late  King,  is  inclined  to  underestimate  the  part 
played  by  His  Majesty  in  the  consolidation  of  the 
Entente  will  be  denied  by  none  of  those  English 
people  who  happened  to  be  in  Paris  at  the  time  the 
Sovereign  paid  his  first  State  visit  to  the  French 
capital.  The  Entente  Cordiale  was  then  in  an 
embryonic  stage,  and,  as  far  as  the  French  nation 
at  large  was  concerned,  had  practically  no  existence 
at  all. 

The  dead  silence,  rendered  all  the  more  striking 
by  the  utterance  here  and  there  of  an  unmistakably 
British  cheer,  that  greeted  the  Sovereign  on  the 
day  of  his  entry ;  the  huge  force  of  police,  evi- 
dently under  strict  orders  to  suppress  any  attempt 
at  a  hostile  demonstration  ;  the  freezing  attitude 
of  the  crowds,  must  have  been  as  painful  to  the 
feelings  of  the  King  as  they  were  to  his  subjects. 
'  The  whole  thing  is  a  fiasco,"  said  a  prominent 
French  politician,  one  who  had  been  most  active 
in  endeavouring  to  promote  a  better  understanding 
between  the  two  countries,  as  the  Royal  carriage 
disappeared  behind  the  gates  of  the  British 
Embassy. 

But  before  twenty-four  hours  had  passed  the 
magnetic  personality  of  the  King  had  worked  a 
miracle.  He  had  taken  hold  of  the  imagination 
of  Paris.  In  a  night  the  attitude  of  the  crowd  had 
changed  from  utter  indifference  to  warm  sympathy, 
which  soon  turned  to  positive  enthusiasm.  Those 
three  or  four  days  did  more  to  clear  away  the  mis- 
understandings of  years  than  any  political  agree- 
ment. A  few  far-seeing  statesmen  gave  the 


170        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

Entente  their  support  from  its  inception,  but  it 
remained  with  King  Edward  to  conquer  for  it 
the  sanction  of  Paris. 

From  a  powerful  leading  article,  "  The  Char- 
acter of  the  King,"  published  in  the  "  Evening 
Standard"  on  October  19,  1912,  I  make  a  short 
extract : 

The  fierce  light  that  beats  upon  a  throne  is 
manipulated  in  these  days  by  urbane  stage-manage- 
ment. This  management — if  so  we  may  describe 
the  courtesy  of  civilised  peoples — directs  a  rosy 
hue  on  a  living  King,  but  on  his  death  changes  the 
light  to  more  lurid  colours.  Such  has  been  the 
case  with  King  Edward  vn.  Not  long  since  Sir 
Sidney  Lee  threw  a  cold,  clear,  rather  cruel  light 
on  King  Edward.  He  showed  us  a  monarch  full  of 
amiable  qualities,  whose  capacity  had  been  so 
stunted  by  injudicious  education  that  when  he 
came  into  his  kingdom  he  knew  little  or  nothing  of 
its  responsibilities.  And  Sir  Sidney  Lee  expended 
much  ingenuity  and  honest  endeavour  in  bringing 
out  the  mediocrity  of  King  Edward  so  far  as  the  arts 
of  government  and  diplomacy  were  concerned.  His 
idea  seemed  to  be  that  while  the  King  lived  an 
exaggerated  notion  had  developed  of  his  influence 
on  the  affairs  of  Europe.  This  notion  Sir  Sidney 
set  himself  to  dissipate  by  means  of  the  cold,  clear, 
and  rather  cruel  light  of  which  we  have  spoken. 
The  King  he  exhibited  on  the  biographical  stage  was 
one  who  did  not  deserve  the  reputation  of  diplomatic 
acuteness  and  energy  with  which  he  was  credited. 

Then,  proceeding  to  comment  on  "  Monarchs 
and  Men,"  by  Herr  Maximilian  Harden,  the  writer 
says: 


CALUMNIATING  KING  EDWARD      171 

Another  hand  now  takes  possession  of  the 
illuminant.  Herr  Maximilian  Harden,  the  famous 
German  journalist,  has  written  a  book  called 
"  Monarchs  and  Men,"  and  a  translation  has  been 
published  in  England  by  Mr.  Eveleigh  Nash.  A 
prominent  place  among  his  monarchs  is  given  by 
Herr  Harden  to  King  Edward.  Nobody  could 
possibly  recognise  Herr  Harden' s  monarch  as  Sir 
Sidney  Lee's.  The  contrast  is  magnificent,  and 
not  without  amusement.  Whereas  the  English 
writer's  view  of  his  King  was  that  he  lacked  at 
least  half  the  cleverness  he  was  supposed  to  have 
devoted  to  the  maintenance  of  peace  and  power, 
the  German  writer  would  have  us  believe  that 
Machiavelli  was  a  duffer  compared  with  the  paragon 
of  guile  who  was  Edward  vn.  He  does  not 
expressly  relate  him  to  Machiavelli  or  the  Machia- 
vellian school.  Indeed,  there  is  a  trifle  too  much  of 
Bismarckian  brutality  in  the  picture  for  the  parallel 
with  the  Italian  to  be  complete.  But,  at  any  rate, 
the  picture  is  as  unlike  the  King  Edward  we 
thought  we  knew  as  was  that  of  Sir  Sidney  Lee. 

Let  us  follow  Herr  Harden  in  a  few  of  the 
broader  outlines  of  his  analysis.  It  appears,  then, 
that  King  Edward  came  to  the  throne  without 
very  much  of  a  welcome.  Towards  the  end  of  his 
mother's  life  angry  voices  had  protested,  wherever 
he  came,  that  he  had  "  speculated  in  gold  mines, 
disturbed  the  waters  of  the  Vaal  with  Rhodes, 
Milner,  and  Beit,  taken  part  in  the  preparation 
for  the  Jameson  raid,  and  used  his  influence  to 
frustrate  the  inquiry  into  it."  He  was  not  dis- 
mayed by  these  rumours ;  "he  was  more  irritated 
by  the  jeer  that  he  had  been  '  made  in  Germany  '." 
As  this  might  be  dangerous,  he  abjured  his  father's 
name,  "  since  it  recalled  the  small  princes  of 
Germany,"  and  chose  to  be  known  as  Edward, 


172        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

which  "  suggests  to  the  Briton  the  king  of  the  time 
of  the  barons'  wars,  who  organised  the  government, 
sustained  Magna  Carta,  and  brought  the  princi- 
pality of  Wales  under  the  law  of  England." 

Furthermore,  King  Edward  was  "  no  soldier 
and  no  sailor  ;  neither  a  blind  assailant  nor  a  vain 
seeker  of  fame  ;  he  was  a  royal  merchant,  with  a 
shrewd,  often  majestic,  intelligence,  a  thorough 
knowledge  of  men,  and  an  inborn  amiability."  In 
this  capacity  he  desired  peace  with  Germany,  and 
ensued  it  by  keeping  his  Imperial  nephew,  of  whom, 
by  the  way,  Herr  Harden  speaks  with  a  delightful, 
condescending  freedom,  under  his  thumb.  One 
gets  the  impression  of  a  terrible  uncle  and  a  nephew 
paralysed  by  weakness.  The  King  read  the 
Emperor's  character  as  follows  :  "  Active,  but  will 
do  nothing."  For  years  he  maintained  this  view, 
pursuing  "  his  personal  policy  as  if  it  were  sport." 
It  took  the  place  of  the  pastimes  of  his  youth. 
66  He  took  a  right  royal  pleasure  in  the  effect  of 
his  bluff,  and  paralysed  German  diplomacy  in  its 
most  important  negotiations  by  an  artful  wink, 
which  meant  '  Don't  be  intimidated  ;  there  is  no 
intention  whatever  to  appeal  to  the  last  resort  of 
peoples  and  kings  behind  all  his  high-sounding 
words  ;  my  nephew,  whom  I  know  to  the  marrow 
of  his  bones,  will  not  go  to  war." 

Two  persons  out  of  the  millions  of  Great  Britain 
and  France  maintain  that  the  Memoir  of  Edward 
vn.  contained  in  the  "  Dictionary  of  National 
Biography  "  is  absolutely  true  in  substance  and 
in  fact.  One  is  M.  Ernest  Judet,  editor  of  the 
"  Eclair  "  ;  the  other  is  Mr.  J.  Keir  Hardie,  M.P. 
With  the  first  named  I  have  fully  dealt,  and  I 
have  briefly  noted  the  second's  cascade  of  praise 


CALUMNIATING  KING  EDWARD      173 

of  the  Memoir.  Some  journals,  in  their  anxiety 
to  support  the  Dictionary,  have,  as  I  have  in- 
dicated, abused  me  for  my  efforts  to  preserve 
intact  the  reputation  of  King  Edward  ;  but  not 
one  paper  has  disproved,  or  even  attempted  to 
disprove,  the  facts  adduced  by  Professor  Vambery, 
Comte  d'Haussonville,  and  myself.  The  Press 
has,  on  the  contrary,  disseminated  our  hard  facts 
all  over  the  world.  Sir  Sidney  Lee  has  not  ventured 
publicly  to  traverse  them. 

In  the  streets  we  see  little  errand  boys,  in  the 

'  Metro  "  and  the  Tube  and  the  tea-shops  youths 
and  girls,  all  poring  over  newspapers  and  periodi- 
cals, their  eyes  glued  to  the  printed  page.  Among 
the  millions  of  our  London  population  there  is  not 
a  girl  or  a  boy  over  twelve  who  would  not  be 
scouted  as  an  ignoramus  were  she  or  he  unable 
to  settle  down  to  "  a  good  read  "  of  a  book  or 
periodical  of  some  sort  or  other.  Yet  there  was 
a  King — a  King  of  England — to  whom,  so  we  have 
been  assured,  the  printed  volume  was  almost  as 
useless  as  if  he  had  been  deprived  of  the  blessing 
of  sight. 

King  Edward  is  not  the  only  victim  of  the 

'  Dictionary  of  National  Biography."  Miss  Swin- 
burne came  forward,  in  the  "  Times  "  in  April 
1913,  to  complain  of  and  deny  some  of  the  state- 
ments concerning  her  brother,  the  eminent  poet 
(Algernon  Charles),  in  the  Memoir  published  in 
the  Dictionary.  Sir  Sidney  Lee  and  Mr.  Edmund 
Gosse  (the  author  of  the  Memoir)  replied  in  the 

'  Times "    to   Miss   Swinburne's   letter,    and   the 


174        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

correspondence  on  "  Swinburne's  Juvenilia " 
terminated  on  April  16  with  this  letter  to  the 
editor  of  the  "  Times  "  from  the  poet's  distressed 
sister  : 

I  think  you  will  agree  with  me  that,  under  the 
circumstances,  it  would  be  fair  to  suggest  to  Sir 
Sidney  Lee  that  the  article  should  be  withdrawn 
from  the  "  Dictionary  of  National  Biography," 
as  it  is  inaccurate  in  so  many  important  details.— 
ISABEL  SWINBURNE. — 61  Onslow  Square,  S.W. 
April  15,  1913. 

One  would  have  supposed  that  Sir  Sidney  Lee 
would  have  made  some  sort  of  response  to  Miss 
Swinburne's  mild  appeal.  But  he  neither  replied 
to  the  lady  in  the  "  Times  "  nor  to  her  privately. 
In  a  letter  to  the  "  Times  "  Sir  S.  Lee  had  pre- 
viously admitted  that  no  "  proof  "  of  Mr.  Gosse's 
article  had  been  sent  to  Miss  Swinburne  !  She 
tells  us  she  did  not  know  what  the  Memoir  of  her 
brother  contained  until  she  saw  it  in  the  Dictionary 
itself. 

One  writer,  and  one  only,  was  gallant  and 
honest  enough  to  fight  Miss  Swinburne's  battle  in 
the  "  Daily  News  and  Leader  "  (April  15,  1913) 
and  in  "  London  Opinion "  (April  26).  That 
man  was  Mr.  James  Douglas,  who  has  now  de- 
nounced the  Dictionary's  Memoir  of  Swinburne 
as  I  have  denounced  its  Memoir  of  King  Edward, 
and  as  the  "  Daily  Telegraph  "  denounced  it  on 
June  7,  1912. 

Mr.   Douglas's   double   exposure   of   the   Die- 


CALUMNIATING  KING  EDWARD      175 

tionary  in  regard  to  Swinburne,  and  the  assertion 
of  the  poet's  sister  that  the  Memoir  is  "  inaccurate 
in  so  many  important  details  "  that  she  suggests 
its  withdrawal  from  the  volume,  have  an  intimate 
bearing  upon  the  Memoir  of  Edward  vn. 

In  "  London  Opinion " l  ("  A  Swinburne 
Sensation  ")  Mr.  Douglas  wrote  : 

The  (f  Dictionary  of  National  Biography  "  is 
becoming  a  quite  notorious  publication.  If  Sir 
Sidney  Lee  does  not  take  care  he  will  be  offered  a 
huge  salary  by  Mr.  Hearst  to  cross  the  Atlantic 
and  edit  the  New  York  "  American."  As  a  rule 
we  do  not  expect  to  find  thrills  and  sensations  in  a 
staid  and  sober  work  of  reference.  It  is  said  that 
Leslie  Stephen,  the  first  editor  of  the  Dictionary, 
gave  his  contributors  as  their  motto  :  '''  No 
flowers,  by  request."  If  Sir  Sidney  Lee  has  not 
rioted  in  flowers,  he  certainly  seems  to  have 
wallowed  in  sensations.  The  Memoir  of  King 
Edward  has  provoked  a  tempest  of  controversy. 
And  now  the  Memoir  of  Algernon  Charles  Swin- 
burne has  burst  in  the  literary  world  like  a  bomb- 
shell. Many  a  news-editor  in  Fleet  Street  must  have 
read  it  with  pangs  of  despairing  envy ;  for  there  in 
cold  print  were  things  that  even  the  Yellow  Press 
would  have  hesitated  to  publish. 

But  the  Dictionary  can  rush  in  where  journalists 
fear  to  tread.  It  says  things  about  King  Edward 
that  no  newspaper  would  have  ventured  to  suggest. 
And  the  article  on  Swinburne  is  still  more  sensa- 
tional. It  was  written  by  Mr.  Edmund  Gosse,  one 
of  Swinburne's  oldest  friends.  Even  if  all  the 

1  This  is  a  weekly  journal,  with  a  circulation  verging  upon  half  a 
million,  edited  by  Mr.  Lincoln  Springfield,  a  man  of  ripe  experience 
and  many  gifts. 


176        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

statements  were  true  it  is  hard  to  justify  their 
publication  so  soon  after  the  poet's  death  and 
while  relatives  are  alive  to  whom  such  revelations 
would  be  the  most  refined  form  of  torture.  But 
Miss  Swinburne  shows,  in  her  exposure  in  the 
"  Times,"  that  two  statements  made  by  Mr.  Gosse 
are  not  true,  and  thus  she  has  thrown  upon  all  the 
other  statements  a  shadow  of  suspicion. 

It  will  be  noted  that  Mr.  Douglas  says 
in  "  London  Opinion  "  :  '  The  Dictionary  of 
National  Biography  is  becoming  a  quite  notorious 
publication  .  .  .  The  Memoir  of  King  Edward 
has  provoked  a  tempest  of  controversy  .  .  .  The 
'  Dictionary '  can  rush  in  where  journalists  fear  to 
tread.  It  says  things  about  King  Edward  that  no 
newspaper  would  have  ventured  to  suggest." 

In  the  opening  chapter  of  "  Vanity  Fair  "  we 
are    told    some    interesting    things    about    Becky 
Sharp    and    the    "  Dixonary."     Miss    Sharp    and 
Miss  Amelia  Sedley  were  leaving  (in  Mrs.  Sedley's 
coach)    Miss     Pinkerton's     Academy    for     younj 
ladies  on  Chiswict   Mall.     Miss   Sedley  had  been 
presented    with   a   copy   of    "  the   Great   Lexico- 
grapher's "  standard  work.     Miss  Jemima  Pinker- 
ton  wished  her  sister,  the  head  of  the  Academy,  t< 
give  Becky  one  also,  and  she  took  a  copy  from  th< 
shelf  for  presentation  to  Miss  Sharp,  but  Jeminu 
was  bidden  to  "  replace  the  Dixonary  in  the  closel 
and  never  take  such  a  liberty  in  future."     Despit< 
this   admonition,    however,  kind-hearted   Jemii 
handed  Miss  Sharp  a  copy  of  the  book,  togethei 
with  some  sandwiches,  as  the  coach  was  driving  off. 


CALUMNIATING  KING  EDWARD      177 

Becky  kept  the  sandwiches,  but  sent  the  Dixonary 
"  flying  over  the  pavement  of  the  little  garden, 
and  sank  back  in  the  carriage  in  an  easy  frame  of 
mind,  saying,  '  So  much  for  the  Dixonary,  and 
thank  God,  I'm  out  of  Chiswick.'  " 

After  reading  the  Memoirs  of  King  Edward 
and  Algernon  Charles  Swinburne,  some  people, 
despite  the  "  monumental  "  character  of  the  work, 
may  be  disposed  to  treat  Sir  Sidney  Lee's  Dixonary 
as  Becky  treated  the  "  Great  Lexicographer's." 

For  sending  threatening  letters  to  King  Edward 
when  he  was  Prince  of  Wales  more  than  one  person 
was  severely  punished.  The  man  Mylius  was 
sentenced  to  a  year's  imprisonment  for  foully 
libelling  King  George.  People  "  in  society  "  had 
made  Mylius's  lies  the  topic  of  conversation  years 
before  that  arch-villain  printed  and  published 
them.  The  Memoir  of  Edward  vn.  was  issued  in 
the  ' '  Dictionary  of  National  Biography  ':i  some 
five  months  or  so  after  the  conviction  of  Mylius. 
Probably  only  lawyers  are  aware  that,  at  the  trial 
of  Dr.  Shebbear  for  writing  treasonable  letters, 
that  eminent  judge,  Lord  Chief  Justice  Mansfield, 
laid  down  the  law  that  satires — merely  satires — 
on  dead  Kings  were  punishable.1 

Certain  writers  in  the  newspapers  have  dis- 
played more  anxiety  to  rescue  Sir  Sidney  Lee  from 
the  pit  into  which  he  has  fallen  than  to  defend 
King  Edward  from  the  depreciations  of  the 
Dictionary.  As  these  worthy  persons  were  shielded 
by  their  anonymity  I  cannot  say  if  any  of  them 

1  Horace  Walpole's  "  Letters,"  vol.  iii.  p.  153. 


12 


178        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

chance  to  be  among  the  contributors  to  the 
Dictionary.  The  "  informers,"  again,  have  possibly 
friends  who  might  not  be  averse  to  vent  their 
rage  upon  one  or  other  of  those  who  have  exposed 
their  treatment  of  the  King,  to  whom  in  life  they 
probably  truckled  like  valets,  to  whom  in  death 
they  are  faithless  among  the  faithful.  "  What 
people,  what  a  set !  "  l 

1  Matthew  Arnold. 


CHAPTER    VIII 

LORD    KNOLLYS 

CONVERSING  one  day  with  an  august  personage, 
King  Edward,  then  Prince,  said  :  "  There  is  a 
greater  distance  between  my  mother  and  myself 
than  there  is  between  the  Queen  and  her  humblest 
subject."  It  should  be  hardly  necessary  to  say 
that  these  pregnant  words  were  not  intended  to 
convey  the  impression  that  personal  differences 
existed  between  the  Heir-Apparent  and  Queen 
Victoria  :  it  was  the  son's  way  of  expressing  the 
great  altitude  of  the  Sovereign  as  compared  with 
the  position  of  one  who  was  only  a  probable 
Monarch.  Of  many  striking  sayings  of  King 
Edward  which  have  filtered  through  to  me  I 
quote  now  only  the  above,  and  that  merely  for 
an  illustrative  purpose.  What  was  the  "  distance 
between "  the  late  Sovereign  and  the  eminent 
man  who  relinquished  the  heavy  burden  of  the 
Secretaryship  on  a  memorable  date — Queen  Alex- 
andra's Jubilee  ?  I  should  say  it  could  be  gauged 
with  a  yard  measure  ;  perhaps  even  with  a  foot- 
rule.  Many  were  honoured  with  the  little  con- 
fidences of  King  Edward,  but  he  had  only  one 
confidant  where  State  and  purely  personal  affairs 

179 


180       MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

were  concerned — the  man,  the  friend,  whom  he 
made  a  Peer  as  some  slight  recognition  of  the 
service  of  a  lifetime  ;  a  souvenir,  as  it  were,  from 
Sovereign  to  subject ;  a  token  of  gratitude  for 
unselfish  devotion. 

Lord  Knollys  may  be  justly  proud  of  the  fact 
that  he  filled  for  a  longer  period  than  any  other 
man  similarly  placed  the  post  of  Secretary  and 
(I  do  not  hesitate  to  say  it)  adviser  to  Sovereigns. 
He  saw  everything,  heard  everything,  and  was 
consulted  about  everything  for  forty-two  years. 
And,  above  all,  he  knew  how  to  be  silent.  With 
the  Secretaries  of  Sovereigns  this  is  the  quality  most 
valued,  as  it  is  the  rarest.  The  terrible  secrets 
of  the  confessional  have  not  been  more  jealously 
kept  by  the  priests  than  the  secrets  of  the  Palace 
by  Lord  Knollys.  In  the  course  of  forty  years 
the  feather-bed  may  have  burst  more  than  once, 
but  those  who  would  have  picked  up  the  feathers 
were  stayed  by  the  warning  hand  of  the  guardian, 
the  soldier  who  never  slept  at  his  post. 

If  King  Edward  found  his  great  consoler  in 
times  of  stress — and  there  were  some  such — in  his 
consort,  there  was  one  other  who,  with  rare  ex- 
ceptions, was  always  at  hand  to  soothe  the  wounded 
feelings  of  his  Royal  Master — the  placid,  imper- 
turbable Secretary,  whose  calming  powers  and 
ability  to  "  put  matters  right  "  were  unrivalled. 
The  King  was  not  naturally  of  an  irritable  dis- 
position ;  but  occasionally  his  indignation  at 
some  unlooked-for  occurrence  was  so  great  that 
it  momentarily  overmastered  him,  and  then  the 


LORD  KNOLLYS  181 

persuasiveness  and  "  sweet  reasonableness "  of 
Lord  Knollys  were  effectual  restoratives. 

To  a  phenomenally  acute  mind  is  allied  in 
Lord  Knollys  a  highly-sensitive  organisation 
oftener  met  with  in  the  most  intellectual  women 
than  in  men  steeped  in  the  drudgery  of  a  Court, 
overladen  with  a  knowledge  of  the  daily  faits  et 
gestes  of  a  Sovereign,  and  called  upon  at  a  moment's 
notice  to  solve  a  difficulty  or  dispel  a  doubt. 
To  these  characteristics  may  be  added  yet  one 
more — the  quality  of  self-effacement ;  for  this 
aide-de-camp  of  Kings  is  the  most  modest  and 
retiring,  as  he  is  the  suavest  and  most  patient  and 
tolerant,  of  men.  I  doubt  if,  even  in  the  most 
trying  circumstances,  any  one — man,  woman,  boy, 
or  girl — ever  heard  him  utter  a  hasty  or  an  unkind 
word.  But  the  gracious  phrase  came  naturally 
to  his  lips  as  well  as  to  his  pen.  A  letter,  in  his 
firm  business-like  writing,  which  carries  distinc- 
tion with  it,  would  not  contain  a  superfluous  word, 
while  it  was  punctuated  with  the  care  of  a  litterateur. 
You  hardly  look  for  commas  and  semicolons  in 
the  letters  of  a  King's  Secretary  ;  but  you  will 
find  them  in  any  missive  signed  "  Knollys." 

Here,  then,  one  may  be  pardoned  for  saying, 
is  the  man  more  fitted  than  any  other  for  the  task 
of,  I  will  not  say  writing,  but  editing,  that 
"  official  "  Life  of  King  Edward  about  which  we 
have  been  hearing  so  much — all  inaccurate — of 
late.  Although  this  would  be  a  labour  of  love  to 
him,  and  although  he  is  still  happily  "  quite  the 
young  man,"  vigorous  in  mind  and  alert  in  body. 


182       MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

he  might  fairly  (supposing  him  to  have  done  so, 
which  I  do  not  assert)  have  excused  himself  from 
entering  upon  so  onerous  a  work  at  seventy-six. 
However  this  may  be,  we  may  rest  assured  of  this 
— that  in  the  event  of  an  authoritative  and  "  docu- 
mented "  record  of  King  Edward's  reign  (and  not 
only  his  reign)  being  decided  upon  at  no]  very 
distant  date,  Lord  Knollys  will  lend  a  guiding 
hand,  or,  at  least,  illuminate  it  with  his  profound 
experience  and  exceptional  knowledge  of  facts. 
He  knows  better  than  any  one  else  how  baseless 
are  the  recently-published  statements  that  the 
materials  for  such  a  "  Life  "  are  "  very  scanty," 
that  "  all  letters  have  been  destroyed,"  and  that 
there  remains  little  more  than  a  few  memoranda 
jotted  down  by  the  King  on  stray  scraps  of  paper. 
To  crown  these  commerages  came  the  announce- 
ment that  Queen  Alexandra  had  confided  th( 
preparation  of  the  "  Life  "  to  the  Hon.  J.  W. 
Fortescue  ;  which  I  can  certify  to  be  untrue. 

However  much  we  might  appreciate  it,  we  muj 
not  look  forward  to  Lord  Knollys's  own  memoii 
— not,  at  all  events,  for  many  a  long  year  to  come. 
King  Edward's  life  was  in  many  respects  the  life  of 
his  Secretary  ;  yet  the  latter,  were  he  ever  in  the 
mood  to  do  so,  could  put  on  paper  records  of 
incidents  and  episodes  which  would  not  properly 
come  within  the  rigid  boundaries  of  a  "  Life  "  of  our 
late  Sovereign,  although  they  would  rekindle  01 
interest  in  the  history  of  the  Empire  since  th< 
Tenth  of  March  1863. " 


CHAPTER    IX 

WHEN    EDWARD    VII.    WAS    PRINCE    AND 
GEORGE    V.    DUKE 

WHAT  a  change  it  will  be  from  Babylon  and  its 
Institute  pageantry  to  Balmoral !  But  at  least 
one  person  will  welcome  it,  and  that  one  is  Her 
Majesty.  Not  a  few  members  of  the  Royal  House- 
hold were  anxious  to  see  how  the  Queen  would 
get  through  the  fatigues  incidental  to  the  Dra wing- 
Room  and  the  inauguration  of  the  Imperial  In- 
stitute, and  there  was  a  feeling  of  relief  when  both 
functions  came  to  a  brilliant  end,  leaving  our 
gracious  Lady  but  very  little  the  worse  for  her 
exertions.1 

Nobody  is  fonder  of  playing  a  little  practical 
joke  than  Her  Majesty.  One  of  these  bits  of  fun 
she  perpetrated  on  the  day  of  the  Dra  wing-Room, 
when,  after  hastily  changing  her  ceremonial  garb, 
she  went  for  a  drive  all  round  the  least-known 
quarters  of  the  West  End,  returning  (and  this  is  a 
fact,  though  none  of  the  papers  have  mentioned  it) 
through  the  slummy  parts  of  Chelsea,  to  the  amaze- 
ment of  the  neighbourhood  and  the  bewilderment 
of  a  solitary  policeman  here  and  there,  who  could 

1  Diary  :  May  10,  n,  1893. 

183 


184       MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

hardly  believe  their  eyes  as  they  saw  the  Royal 
carriage  dash  past  them.  The  manner  in  which 
the  great  function  passed  off  pleased  the  Queen 
immensely,  so  that  all  concerned  in  the  making 
of  the  multitudinous  arrangements  have  been 
pluming  themselves  ever  since.  And  first  and 
foremost  in  the  list  is,  of  course,  "  my  dear 
son,"  whose  "  day  "  it  proved  to  be,  without  any 
reservation  whatsoever.  As  the  Prince  of  Wales 
would  have  had  to  bear  the  brunt  of  any  break- 
down, so  he  was  accorded  all  the  glory  resulting 
from  the  perfect  success  of  the  business  from  first 
to  last. 

If  the  idea  of  retiring  from  the  Sovereignty  ever 
entered  the  head  of  the  Queen,  it  must  have  been 
after  the  South  Kensington  ceremony,  which  proved 
that  the  Prince  of  Wales  has  a  very  clear  perception 
of  the  duties  of  the  Heir- Apparent.  Her  Majesty 
now  sees  clearly  that  she  will  have  a  most  fitting 
and  suitable  successor  in  her  eldest  son,  who,  albeit 
he  is  in  no  hurry  to  assume  the  immense  responsi- 
bilities attaching  to  the  Crown,  feels,  to  a  greater 
extent  than  ever  before,  that,  when  the  psycho- 
logical moment  arrives,  he  will  have  the  support  of 
the  country  generally. 

The  loyalty  of  the  Nation  is  not  at  fever  heat, 
but  not  very  far  below  it ;  and  one  reason  is  that 
people — no  matter  what  their  politics  may  be— 
are  not  only  most  heartily  sick  of  the  Home  Rule 
business,  but  angry  to  think  that  so  much  of  the 
precious  time  of  the  leaders — and  of  the  rank  and 
file  also — of  both  parties  has  been,  and  is  being, 


Phot°\  [Lafayette. 

KING  EDWARD  AS  GRANDMASTER  OF  THE  KNIGHTS  HOSPITALLERS 
OF  ST.  JOHN  OF  JERUSALEM  AND  CHEVALIER  OF  MALTA.  (The 
costume  he  wore  at  the  famous  Diamond  Jubilee  Ball  at  Devonshire 

House.) 


WHEN  EDWARD  VII.  WAS  PRINCE     185 

wasted  in  the  pursuit  on  the  one  hand  of  a  chimera 
and  on  the  other  in  the  effort  to  resist  the  designs 
of  the  "  Separatists."  The  general  opinion  is  that 
the  attempt  to  split  up  the  United  Kingdom  has 
been  of  incalculable  value  in  cementing  the  old 
attachment  of  the  People  to  the  Crown,  and  that 
the  longer  the  insensate  struggle  is  continued  the 
better  it  will  be  for  the  Throne. 

A  few  years  ago  many  people  viewed  the 
possibility  of  the  Prince's  accession  to  supreme 
power  with  no  little  anxiety.  That  feeling  of 
apprehensiveness  now  seems  to  have  disappeared 
—if  not  wholly,  to  a  considerable  extent ;  while  it 
is  certain  that  the  Queen  has  now  attained  her 
apogee,  and  that,  were  she  to  delegate  her  functions 
to  the  Prince  of  Wales  as  (let  us  say)  Prince  Regent, 
she  would  withdraw  from  the  stage  in  the  full  blaze 
of  popularity  and  triumph. 

People  think  about  these  things  but  are  too 
timorous  to  utter  them,  except  under  the  seal  of 
secrecy.  No  harm,  however,  can  arise  from  their 
temperate  discussion.  A  sentiment  of  pained 
indignation  prevailed  at  the  absence  of  the  Princess 
of  Wales  ;  and  everybody  was  asking  the  reason 
of  her  non-attendance  at  a  ceremony  only  second 
in  importance  to  that  of  Jubilee  Day.  People 
cannot  understand  this  voluntary  exile  of  the 
Princess  at  such  an  important  period  in  the  social 
history  of  the  country  ;  and  they  will  not  rest 
content  with  the  somewhat  feeble  explanation 
that  she  is  touring  for  her  health's  sake  and  change 
of  scene.  A  painful  impression  has  got  abroad, 


186       MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

and  the  non-participation  of  the  Princess  and  her 
daughters  in  the  exceptionally  magnificent  pageant 
caused  much  surprise. 

There  was  another  very  general  sentiment  of 
astonishment  when  it  was  found  that  the  Prime 
Minister  was  not  present  at  the  ceremony. 
Probably  in  no  other  country  would  a  Queen's  or 
King's  First  Minister — the  one  man  primarily 
responsible  for  the  business  of  the  nation — have 
deemed  it  fitting,  or  decorous,  or  even  civil,  to 
have  absented  himself  on  such  an  occasion.  In 
the  evening  :f  Mr.  G."  dined  with  Sir  Arthur 
and  Lady  Hayter ;  so  it  was  not  indisposition 
which  kept  him  away  from  South  Kensington. 
What,  then,  was  it  ? 

The  Royal  dinner-party  on  Drawing-Room 
night  was  all  gaiety  and  sparkle,  and  it  was  said 
that  the  talk  was  all  about  the  fiangailles  and  the 
Institute.  Her  Majesty  set  the  example  for  the 
toasting  of  the  young  couple  (who  were  the  hero 
and  heroine  of  the  evening)  by  raising  her  glass  of 
champagne,  and  the  Prince  of  Wales,  Princess 
Mary,  the  Duke  of  Teck,  and  all  the  other  Royalties 
at  the  table  were  not  slow  to  follow  suit. 

To  say  that  May  10  was  a  second  Jubilee 
Day  would  be  a  glaring  exaggeration.  11 
approached  that  ever-to-be-remembered  occasioi 
in  some  not  unimportant  respects,  it  is  true  ;  bu1 
there  the  simile  must  end.  To  the  intense  surpri* 
of  that  tremendous  concourse  of  spectators  th< 
Royal  procession  passed  through  the  Park  un- 
accompanied by  a  note  of  music.  This  was  the 


WHEN  EDWARD  VII.  WAS  PRINCE     187 

one  disappointing  part  of  the  display,  and  many 
were  curious  to  know  the  reason  why. 

What  would  have  been  easier  than  to  have 
stationed  half  a  dozen  bands  at  intervals  along  the 
route  ?  (It  was  said  that  there  were  two — some- 
where.) Tens  of  thousands  of  people  must  have 
been  standing  in  one  position  for  four  or  five 
hours — many  probably  much  longer.  How  grate- 
ful they  would  have  been  for  the  livening  up  which 
would  have  resulted  from  the  performance  of  some 
appropriate  music  before  the  appearance  and 
during  the  passage  of  the  procession  !  As  it  was, 
there  was  little  or  nothing  to  remove  the  ennui 
which  even  the  most  ardent  loyalists  must  have 
experienced  until  the  carriages  containing  the 
personages  invited  to  the  gathering  began  to 
rumble  by.  One  had  only  to  be  in  the  crowd 
—mostly  a  well-dressed  one — to  perceive  that 
lamentable  ignorance  prevailed  concerning  who 
was  who.  Twenty  thousand  invitations  were  sent 
out,  inclusive  of  cards  sold,  so  that  he  or  she  would 
indeed  have  been  wise  who  could  have  named  more 
than  a  very  few  of  the  personages  as  they  drove 
more  or  less  rapidly  through  the  Park  on  their  way 
to  the  Institute. 

The  turn-outs  were  exceedingly  varied,  a  par- 
ticularly dashing  equipage  being  followed  by  a 
hansom  or  a  "  growler  "  which  would  have  reflected 
more  credit  on  Peckham  than  on  Hyde  Park  or 
Piccadilly.  There  must  have  been  much  "  Court- 
dress  "  hiring,  judging  by  the  numbers  of  men  who 
made  their  appearance  in  that  guise,  some,  at 


188        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

least,  of  whom  are  not  generally  known  as 
courtiers. 

The  representatives  of  the  foreign  Powers 
made  a  brilliant  "  splash."  They  had  the  finest 
carriages  (save,  of  course,  the  "  Royals  "),  and  the 
most  magnificent  of  all  was  the  German  Am- 
bassador's— a  huge  coach,  the  body  in  bright 
yellow,  picked  out  with  black  (the  "  national  " 
colours  are  opposed  to  those  of  Prussia,  which  are 
black  and  white).  I  suppose  some  of  the  Court 
t(  tabbies  "  of  both  sexes  would  have  been  shocked 
could  they  have  seen  his  Excellency  puffing  a 
cigarette  as  his  carriage,  splendidly  horsed,  rolled 
along.  For  some  reason  or  other,  known  only  to 
the  select  few,  there  had  been  numerous  changes 
in  the  programme  ;  and  even  on  the  day  itself 
it  seemed  doubtful  who  would  actually  figure  in 
the  more  important  parts  of  the  procession.  Some, 
at  least,  of  the  morning  newspapers  had  not  been 
kept  very  accurately  informed  as  to  who  would 
accompany  the  Prince  of  Wales.  The  choppings 
and  changings  appear  to  have  begun  in  the  previous 
week.  Only  a  minority  were  prepared  for  the 
announcement  of  the  Royal  betrothal,  which  was 
not  received  quite  as  enthusiastically  as  it  might 
have  been. 

The  Duke  of  York  had  accepted  the  invitation 
of  the  Treasurer  and  Benchers  of  the  Middle  Temple 
to  dine  "  in  hall  "  with  them  on  Friday  evening 
the  5th,  and  disappointment  was  caused  by  a 
letter  from  the  Duke,  at  the  last  moment,  begging 
to  be  excused  from  attending.  This  was  con- 


WHEN  EDWARD  VII.  WAS  PRINCE     189 

sidered  rather  rough  on  those  who  had  intended 
to  specially  honour  the  young  gentleman,  and  it 
will  be  some  time  ere  the  feeling  of  soreness  will 
disappear.  The  Prince  of  Wales's  apology  for 
his  son's  absence  was  that  the  Duke  "  had  only 
been  engaged  two  days." 

No  little  uncertainty  consequently  prevailed 
as  to  whether  the  recently-engaged  couple  would  be 
in  the  procession.  There  was  a  feeling  of  pleasur- 
able surprise,  then,  when,  after  an  interminable 
wait,  the  Prince  of  Wales's  carriage  came  into 
view,  and  it  was  seen  that  the  two  ladies  facing  the 
Heir- Apparent  and  his  only  son  were  the  delightful 
Duchess  of  Teck  and  her  daughter  Princess  "  May." 
Their  reception  was  hearty,  without  being  bois- 
terous, and  both  seemed  highly  gratified.  The 
Duchess  did  not  look  particularly  well  in  health, 
the  result  of  a  heavy  cold  from  which  she  had  been 
suffering  for  several  days  ;  while  on  the  young 
Princess's  face  there  was  an  indication  of  painful 
pleasure.  Had  she  been  wreathed  in  smiles  she 
would  have  been  something  more  than  human,  and 
nobody  was  surprised  at  the  shadow  which  every 
now  and  again  came  over  that  sweet  young  face. 
'  Poor  girl !  "  murmured  many  a  spectator,  as  the 
carriage  went  past  at  a  snail's  pace,  and  that  was 
the  general  feeling. 

The  Duke  of  York  has  a  little  of  that  shyness 
which,  until  very  recently,  was  the  marked  char- 
acteristic of  his  uncle  Alfred  ;  and  he  responded 
almost  timidly  to  the  hurrahs  of  the  crowd.  His 
beard  does  not  become  him  particularly  well,  and 


190       MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

(odd  as  it  may  sound)  I  heard  more  than  one  lady 
express  her  wish  that  the  second  of  our  sailor 
Princes  would  shave  ! 

Considering  the  endless  reports  which  have 
been  put  about  concerning  the  health  of  the  Prince 
of  Wales,  there  was  curiosity  to  see  how  the  Heir- 
Apparent  really  looked.  The  croakers  must  have 
been  very  considerably  surprised  and  (let  us  hope) 
agreeably  disappointed,  for  H.R.H.  was  bubbling 
over  with  delight,  and  appeared  to  rather  enjoy 
riding  with  his  back  to  the  horses,  a  position  which 
I  had  not  seen  him  occupy  before.  It  takes  a 
great  deal  to  surprise  the  Prince,  but  I  fancy  he 
was  amazed  at  the  extent  of  the  crowd  and  the 
warmth  of  his  reception,  which  would  have  been 
infinitely  more  pronounced  but  for  the  fact  that 
nobody  expected  to  see  him  and  the  Royal 
coachman  dos-a-dos. 

Whenever  a  slight  surcease  in  the  acclamations 
enabled  the  Prince  to  say  a  few  words  to  the 
Duchess  and  Princess  May  he  did  so,  pointing  out 
what  seemed  to  strike  him  here  and  there,  and 
also  directing  "  George's  "  attention  to  the  more 
remarkable  features  of  the  route.  The  young 
man,  however,  was  decidedly  distrait,  perhaps 
because  his  right  hand  was  well-nigh  glued  to  his 
hat,  in  acknowledgment  of  the  salutations  which 
greeted  him  and  his  fair  fiancee. 

The  Duchess  of  Edinburgh  was  in  more  smiling 
mood  than  I  had  seen  her  since  her  ante-marriage 
days,  close  upon  twenty  years  before.  People 
seemed  more  than  surprised  to  see  her — she  is  so 


WHEN  EDWARD  VII.  WAS  PRINCE     191 

rare  a  participant  in  our  little  ceremonies,  which 
must  appear  to  her  of  small  account  in  comparison 
with  those  to  which  she  was  accustomed  in  her 
native  land.  She  made  her  public  entry  into  the 
Metropolis  on  a  bitterly  cold,  snowy  day,  and 
looked  half  frozen  and  more  than  half  disappointed 
at  the  woebegone  aspect  which  London  presented. 
It  is  often  said  that  our  people  never  took  kindly 
to  the  only  sister  of  the  Tsar ;  l  her  friends  (and 
she  has  many  staunch  and  true  ones)  tell  a  very 
different  tale,  and  have  nothing  but  good  to 
relate  of  her. 

The  Duke  of  Edinburgh,  too,  has  had  his  time 
of  unpopularity  ;  but  he  could  hardly  have  com- 
plained of  his  greeting,  and  his  looks  betokened 
his  gratification.  He  was  in  as  good  spirits  as 
his  elder  brother,  and  whenever  he  "  spotted  "  a 
friend  in  the  crowd  he  waved  him  or  her  a  cordial 
salutation.  One  of  the  young  Edinburgh  ladies 
was  as  radiant  as  a  granddaughter  of  an  Empress- 
Queen,  niece  of  an  autocratic  Tsar,  and  sister  of 
a  future  Sovereign  can  ever  be. 

Thousands  seemed  to  be  unaware  that  the 
handsome  "  Connaughts "  were  in  the  show. 
Prince  Henry  of  Battenberg  was  an  unknown 
quantity  to  the  bulk  of  the  spectators,  but  Prince 
Christian  came  in  for  a  fair  share  of  plaudits,  and 
looked  very  little  changed  by  the  gun  accident 
at  Osborne.  The  crowd  cheered  the  Commander- 
in-Chief — Cambridge's  Duke  ;  and  wondered  who 
the  Grand  Duke  of  Mecklenburg-Strelitz,  one  of 

1  Alexander  in. 


192        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

the  smartest-looking  men  in  the  procession,  might 
be.  One  figure  was  looked  for  in  vain.  "  She 
ought  to  have  been  there,"  said  everybody,  but 
as  a  matter  of  fact  the  adorable  Princess  of  Wales 
was  at  Brindisi  while  the  Imperial  Institute  was 
being  inaugurated.  Her  daughters  have  been 
with  her  during  the  tour.  Despite  this  fact,  how- 
ever, a  reporter  discerned  the  two  young  ladies 
"  in  one  carriage,  looking,  as  they  always  look, 
graceful  and  good-tempered." 

By  common  consent  the  comeliest  figure  was 
that  of  Princess  Beatrice,  who,  with  Princess 
Christian,  accompanied  Her  Majesty.  Prince  Henry 
of  Battenberg's  consort's  popularity,  indeed,  in- 
creases, and  no  wonder,  for  she  has  always  been 
gentle,  sympathetic,  and  unobtrusive.  The  Queen 
has  become  charmingly  venerable  of  aspect,  and 
her  white  hair  was  more  conspicuous  than  ever. 
Her  white  sunshade,  fringed  with  black  lace, 
relieved  the  gloom  of  her  robe,  all  black,  save  the 
white  guipure  lace  with  which  the  satin  cape  was 
edged  and  the  white  aigrette  in  the  Chantilly  lace 
bonnet.  The  gown  was  ornamented  with  cut  jet, 
which  glistened  in  the  sun,  but  Her  Majesty  had 
eschewed  everything  in  the  shape  of  orders  and 
decorations  —  a  fact  which  provoked  no  little 
surprise.  Her  sombre  raiment  made  the  dresses 
of  the  two  Princesses  the  gayer  by  comparison  ; 
and  the  ladies  all  along  the  route  and  at  the 
Institute  were  loud  in  their  eulogies  of  the  helio- 
trope and  gold  robe  worn  by  Princess  Christian 
and  the  terra-cotta  gown  of  Princess  Beatrice. 


WHEN  EDWARD  VII.  WAS  PRINCE     193 

The  gold  filigree  bonnet  of  the  latter  also  came  in 
for  admiration. 

Despite  the  cream-coloured  ponies,  with  their 
purple  and  gold  trappings,  and  the  rich  liveries 
of  the  Royal  servants  who  walked  by  their  side, 
and  the  sheen  of  the  Life  Guards'  uniforms,  the 
element    of     the    picturesque    would    have    been 
lacking  but  for  the  presence  of  the  Indians  and  the 
Colonials.     The   Queen's  bodyguard   was  unique, 
and   the   crowd   feasted   their   eyes   on   the   blue 
uniform  of  the  Canadian  artillerymen,  the  dazzling 
and  gorgeous  garb   of  the  Bengal,   Madras,   and 
Hyderabad  Lancers,  and  the  Poonah  Horse.     But 
this   was   not   all,   for   there   were   those   Central 
India  Horsemen  to  give  additional  colour  to  the 
pageant ;     and  the   Australian  Lancers,   in  their 
brown    tunics,    trousers    of    the    same    hue,    buff 
boots,  and  brown  Tyrolese  sombreros,  with  cock's 
feathers.     Very  few  in  number  were  these  Colonials, 
but  the  recollection  of  their  presence  will  not  fade 
soon.     This,   then,   was   the   artistic   part  of   the 
pageant.     The  tawny   Indians,    swathed   in   silks 
of  all  colours  ;    the  swarthy  volunteers  from  New 
South   Wales,   with  their  free-and-easy  bearing ; 
and     the    Canadian    gunners,    formed    the    most 
attractive  items  of  the  show.     Probably  not  one 
in  a  thousand  spectators   had    had   any   idea   of 
the  radiant  spectacle  which  they  were   about   to 
witness  ;    and  this  accounted  for  the  spontaneous 
bursts  of  applause  all  along  the  line  as  the  Royal 
escort  made  its  appearance. 

The  perfect  training  of  these  Indian  and  Colonial 


194       MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

warriors  was  good  to  see.  The  cheering  which 
greeted  them  from  first  to  last — the  fusillade  of 
applause,  which  began  at  Buckingham  Palace  and 
was  maintained  until  the  Institute  was  reached, 
did  not  move  them.  The  Indians  were  splendidly 
impassive,  the  Australians  and  Canadians  gloriously 
stolid.  There  was  nothing  theatrical  about  this 
part  of  the  pageant ;  it  was  all  magnificently 
real.  A  better-tempered  crowd  I  have  rarely,  if 
ever,  seen  ;  yet  the  fierce  glare  of  the  sun  and  the 
frequently  overpowering  heat  were  quite  sufficient 
to  have  made  people  testy  and  disagreeable.  Those 
tens  of  thousands  who  lined  the  Ladies'  Mile  had 
by  far  the  best  of  it,  although,  as  the  Queen 
passed  at  high  noon,  the  trees  offered  little,  if 
any,  protection  from  the  sun,  and  the  ladies  were 
in  many  instances  compelled  by  the  vox  populi 
to  close  their  parasols. 

Most  remarkable  was  the  number  of  women 
and  children  in  the  crowd.  Thousands  of  the 
fair  sex  were  to  be  seen,  unescorted,  apparently 
determined  to  be  "  in  it,"  or  perish  in  the  attempt ; 
while  everywhere  you  met  with  the  rising  genera- 
tion, as  anxious  as  their  elders  to  get  a  fronl 
place.  Artful  people  were  those  who  drove  int< 
the  Park  about  the  breakfast  hour,  and  had  thei: 
carriages  drawn  up  in  the  open  space  betweei 
the  Serpentine  end  of  the  Row  and  fronting  "  th( 
Mile."  The  horses  were  sent  away,  and  goodnej 
only  knows  how  they  were  ever  found  and  brought 
back  again  ;  but  there  were  the  rows  of  carriages, 
and  their  owners  picnicking  on  and  in  them,  as  if 


WHEN  EDWARD  VII.  WAS  PRINCE     195 

it  were  a  Derby  Day,  and  the  scene  Epsom  Downs 
instead  of  Hyde  Park. 

Every   householder   along  the    best    parts    of 
the  route    seemed    to    have    invited    all    his    or 
her  friends  to   "  see  the  show  and  have  lunch," 
and  the   hospitality  was  boundless.     The  French 
Embassy  and  the  other  great  mansions  at  Albert 
Gate   were  crowded,   the   balconies   were   draped 
with  royal  crimson,  and  the  ladies  came  out  in 
the  newest  and  most  brilliant  costumes — pink  and 
green  being  the  colours  most  in  favour.     The  huge 
building  in  which  the  Hyde  Park  Club  is  located 
formed    a    rallying-place    for    a    vast    number    of 
elegantes,  and  in  the  gardens  of  all  the  houses  at 
Albert  Gate  tents,  pavilions,  and  platforms  had 
been     erected.      Very    gay    were    the    luncheons 
which  followed  the  passage  of  the  Royalties,  and 
it  was  not  until  the  evening  was  well  advanced 
that  the  festivities  came  to  an  end.     Very  few 
thefts  were  reported,  nobody  having  been  so  un- 
fortunate  as   Mr.   Herbert   Gladstone.     The   con- 
fiscatory     principles     which     the    "  G.O.M."    has 
sanctioned  and  applauded  of  late  years  met  with 
a  practical  application  in  the  case  of  "  my  son 
Herbert."     That    guileless    and   paternally-handi- 
capped youth  was  watching  the  Royal  procession 
when  some  light-fingered  professor  of  Gladstonian 
principles    relieved    him    of    his   gold    watch    and 
chain.     This  is  really  taking  the  utterances  of  the 
Hawarden  family  much  more  seriously  than  they 
were  ever  intended  to  be  taken.     But   perhaps, 
after  all,  the  theft  was  the  work  of  some  rascally 


196       MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

Orangeman,  reckless  as  to  whether  he  "  did  time  " 
in  this  fashion  or  on  the  treadmill.  The  thief 
was  evidently  not  a  Separatist,  for  he  "  lifted  " 
the  chain  with  the  watch. 

"Take  time  by  the  forelock/'  the  adage  doth  say, 
And  the  thief  who  young  Herbert  relieved 

Of  his  watch-chain  and  "ticker"  on  Institute  Day 
That  adage  most  firmly  believed. 

"The  rights  of  the  propertied  classes  are  not 

As  sacred  as  some  people  think/' 
Remarked  the  Old  Chief  when  debating  ran  hot ; 

And  the  thieves  took  it  on  with  a  wink. 

As  a  time-thief  the  Premier  all-comers  can  beat 
When  he  mounts  the  rhetorical  stump ; 

Yet  he  isn't  a  match  for  that  man  in  the  street 
Who  took  all  Herbert's  "Time"  on  the  jump. 

There  were  a  good  many  cases  of  fainting  in 
the  Park  during  the  long  wait  for  the  coming  of 
the  procession  ;  and  it  was  pleasant  to  see  how 
readily  "  fine  ladies  "  produced  beautiful  vinai- 
grettes and  smelling-bottles  for  the  benefit  of  their 
poorer  fellow-creatures.  As  I  inclined  before  our 
Sovereign  Lady  my  thoughts  went  back  to  that 
distant  noon  when,  facing  the  vast  assemblage 
which  filled  the  Albert  Hall,  Her  Majesty  declared 
that  magnificent  memorial  to  her  beloved  Consort 
"  open  to  the  public."  Prince  Albert  had  then 
been  dead  some  ten  years  only  ;  but  there  had 
been  mutterings  and  murmurings  at  the  Queen's 
seclusion,  and  even  the  daily  papers  had  joined 
in  the  chorus  of  complaint  at  the  disappearance 
of  Court  pageantry  and  its  depressing  effect  upon 


WHEN  EDWARD  VII.  WAS  PRINCE     197 

trade.  Nearly  two-and  thirty  years  have  elapsed 
since  the  rustling  of  the  wings  of  the  Angel  of 
Death  was  heard  at  Winsdor ;  yet  here  is  the 
Queen,  apparently  in  the  best  health  which  any 
human  being  can  reasonably  expect  to  enjoy 
once  threescore  years  and  ten  have  passed, 
fulfilling  one  of  those  duties  which  it  is  pre-emi- 
nently her  province  to  discharge,  smilingly  return- 
ing the  acclamations  of  the  million,  and  seemingly 
every  whit  as  "  popular  "  in  the  ordinary  sense 
of  the  word  as  she  was  on  that  May  Day  in  1851 
when  she  rode  to  Hyde  Park  to  "  open "  the 
Palace  of  Glass,  the  precursor  of  so  many  in- 
dustrial and  art  exhibitions  in  the  various  capitals 
of  the  Old  and  New  World. 

There  have  been  times  during  these  thirty  odd 
years  when  not  only  Royalty,  but  the  Crown 
itself,  was  under  a  cloud  ;  but  nobody  who  wit- 
nessed this  magnificent  fete  would  have  thought 
for  a  moment  that  "  Victoria,  Our  Queen  and 
Governor,"  the  mother  of  "  our  King  to  be,"  had 
ever  suffered  the  slightest  waning  of  her  pristine 
popularity,  for  from  Buckingham  Palace  to  the 
Imperial  Institute  it  was  one  sustained  chorus  of 
jubilation — a  resounding  paean  of  the  people's 
praise,  which  must  have  dulled  the  spirit  of  the 
most  stalwart  of  democrats,  and  made  him  rub 
his  eyes  in  dreamy  amazement  that  there  is  still 
extant  so  much  effervescing  loyalty. 


CHAPTER    X 


THE    "  OFFICIAL  "    BIOGRAPHY 


55    1 


THE  publication  in  the  "  Fortnightly  Review 
of  the  article,  "  King  Edward  vn.  :  His  Charater 
and  Personality,"  was  prolific  of  results,  all  tend- 
ing to  perpetuate  the  honour  and  glory  of  the 
greatest  of  our  Kings.  For  the  first  time  there 
was  a  general  awakening  to  the  glaring  defects 
of  the  previously  much- vaunted  Memoir;  and  the 
Press  blossomed  forth  with  assertions  that  an 
:<  official  "  biography  of  the  King  was  imminent. 
The  effect  of  all  these  statements  was  to  still 
further  discredit  the  Memoir. 

The  first  of  the  canards  appeared  in  the  "  Pall 
Mall  Gazette  "  (September  1),  which  apparently 
borrowed  it  from  the  "  Birmingham  Daily  Post," 
and  was  in  these  words  : 

The  suggestion  has  been  made  that  Viscount 
Knollys  should  be  invited  to  edit  the  "  official  " 
biography  of  the  late  King  Edward  when  it  comes 
to  be  prepared.  There  is  no  man  better  fitted  for 
such  a  task. 

Next  (October  1)  the  same  paper  reproduced 
this  elaborate  hash  : 

1  October  1912. 


THE  "  OFFICIAL  "  BIOGRAPHY      199 

KING  EDWARD'S  BIOGRAPHY.  —  It  is  said  to 
be  highly  probable  (writes  the  London  corre- 
spondent of  the  "  Birmingham  Post  ")  that,  as  a 
result  of  certain  recently-issued  publications l  deal- 
ing with  the  life  and  character  of  the  late  King 
Edward,  Queen  Alexandra  will  revise  her  original 
intention  and  allow  an  "  authorised  "  Life  of  His 
Majesty  to  be  published  much  sooner  than  was 
intended.  The  late  King  left  all  his  private  papers 
to  Queen  Alexandra  to  destroy  or  retain  for  publica- 
tion as  seemed  fit  to  her,  and  these  Her  Majesty 
has  since  gone  through  very  carefully  with  the 
assistance  of  the  King  and  the  Princess  Royal. 
The  work  of  writing  this  biography  will  be  entrusted 
to  a  former  friend  of  His  Majesty,  and  the  name 
of  Viscount  Knollys  has  been  mentioned  promi- 
nently in  this  connection.  If  he  were  chosen  he 
might  relinquish  his  present  position  at  Court  at 
the  end  of  the  year  to  devote  himself  to  the  task,  so 
that  the  book  could  make  its  appearance  next 
autumn. 

The  "  Pall  Mall  "  again  (October  4)  : 

It  is  definitely  settled  that  Lord  Esher  will 
be  invited  to  undertake  the  preparation  of  the 
authorised  biography  of  King  Edward.  The 
original  choice  would  have  been  Lord  Knollys,  but 
it  is  understood  that  his  lordship  has  asked  to  be 
excused,  owing  to  his  advanced  age  and  his  lack  of 
experience  of  literary  work.  Queen  Alexandra 
has  entrusted  the  whole  of  the  private  papers  of 
the  late  King  to  Lord  Esher.  It  is  expected  that 
the  book  will  make  its  appearance  towards  the 
end  of  next  year. 

1  There     was    only    one     "recently-issued    publication" — the 
"  Dictionary  of  National  Biography." 


200        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

The  "  Standard  "  (October  4)  : 

Queen  Alexandra,  it  is  rumoured,  has  con- 
sented to  the  preparation  without  any  further  loss 
of  time  of  an  authorised  "  Life  of  King  Edward  vn.," 
and  it  is  stated  that  the  work  will  be  confided  to 
Viscount  Knollys.  It  is  an  open  secret  that  Sir 
Sidney  Lee's  estimate  of  the  late  King  in  the  pages 
of  the  penultimate  volume  of  the  "Dictionary  of 
National  Biography  "  has  been  received  with  quali- 
fied approval  in  influential  quarters.  Lord  Knollys 
has  been  associated  more  or  less  closely  with  the 
Court  since  1868,  and  was  Private  Secretary  to  his 
late  Majesty  as  Prince  and  King  for  no  less  than 
forty  years.  It  stands  to  reason,  therefore,  that 
no  one  now  alive  is  in  a  better  position  from  in- 
timate and  confidential  knowledge  to  deal  not  only 
with  the  personal  characteristics,  but  the  public 
activities  at  home  and  abroad,  of  a  Monarch  who 
as  Prince  and  Sovereign  did  more  for  the  welfare 
of  the  nation  than  is  commonly  supposed,  and 
whose  reign  was  all  too  short. 

The  "  Sunday  Times  "  (October  6)  : 

It  is  now  possible  to  announce  that  during  the 
past  few  days  a  very  important  step  has  been 
taken  in  connection  with  the  "  authorised  "  bio- 
graphy of  the  late  King.  This  is  to  place  the  whole 
of  such  private  papers  as  His  Majesty  left  behind 
him,  which  the  present  King  and  Queen  Alexandra 
deemed  suitable  for  publication,  in  the  hands  of 
Viscount  Esher,  who  is  to  have  the  general  control 
of  the  writing  of  the  book.  It  was  at  first  thought 
that  Viscount  Knollys  was  the  most  suitable 
person  to  undertake  the  work  of  compiling  the 
book,  but  his  lordship  asked  to  be  excused. 
Viscount  Esher,  as  part  author  of  the  official 


THE  "  OFFICIAL  "  BIOGRAPHY      201 

"  Life  "  of  the  late  Queen  Victoria,  is  qualified  in 
every  respect  to  undertake  this  further  task,  and 
will  be  given  very  considerable  assistance  from  the 
private  secretariat  in  the  actual  writing  of  the 
book.  Among  others  who  will  be  invited  to 
contribute  reminiscences  of  Hisl  Majesty's  career 
are  Lord  Knollys,  Sir  Dighton  Probyn,  Lord 
Farquhar,  and  Prince  Christian  of  Schleswig- 
Holstein.  The  latter  was  King  Edward's  con- 
fidant upon  many  occasions,  and  his  contribution 
will  be  most  valuable. 

The  "  London  Mail  "  (October  19)  : 

THE  LIFE  OF  KING  EDWARD. — As  we  antici- 
pated, Lord  Knollys  has  declined  the  invitation  to 
write  the  official  biography  of  King  Edward,  and 
the  task  has  been  entrusted  to  Lord  Esher,  who 
supervised  the  preparation  of  Queen  Victoria's 
letters  for  publication.  No  man  living  knew  the 
late  King  so  well  as  Lord  Knollys,  but  this  very 
familiarity  would  naturally  be  a  difficulty  in  the 
preparation  of  an  "official "  Life,  for  which  too  much 
intimate  knowledge  is  a  drawback.  King  Edward 
was  himself  fully  aware  of  this  difficulty,  and  re- 
marked on  one  occasion,  when  approached  on 
the  question  of  a  biography,  that  such  a  work 
would  probably  be  offensively  fulsome,  or,  "  very 
much  the  reverse."  Queen  Alexandra  is,  however, 
wishful  that  the  biography  shall  not  be  lacking  in 
actuality. 

:t  Reynolds's  Newspaper  "  (October  20)  : 

There  is  no  truth  in  the  statement  which  has 
been  made  that  Lord  Esher  is  writing  the  Life  of 
the  late  King  Edward. 


202       MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

"  Reynolds' s "  (the  Government's  weekly 
organ),  which  King  Edward  regularly  read  all  his 
life,  was  right — all  the  other  papers  were  wrong. 

The  Manchester  "  Sunday  Chronicle  "  (October 
6)  published  the  appended  statement,  from  the 
pen  of  the  prescient  Mr.  Oliver  Gwynne  : 

Several  times  I  have  mentioned  in  this  column 
that  those  connected  with  the  Royal  Family  are 
far  from  contented  with  the  "  Life  "  of  King  Edward 
which  was  published  in  the  "  Dictionary  of  National 
Biography."  Among  those  who  were  most  closely 
associated  with  the  late  King — and  by  that  I  mean 
his  secretaries,  his  equerries,  lords-in-waiting,  and 
his  friends  (through  whom  he  directed  his  work, 
as  a  constitutional  monarch  must  do) — the  bio- 
graphy caused  intense  anger.  They  consider  it 
wide  of  the  facts,  and  utterly  unjust  to  the  superb 
qualities  of  statesmanship  shown  by  the  late  King. 
My  own  experience  is  all  against  anything  that 
would  belittle  the  abilities  or  the  influence  of  King 
Edward. 

The  forthcoming  biography  by  Mr.  Legge,  to 
which  reference  was  made  in  the  "  Sunday 
Chronicle  "  last  week,  is  certain  to  excite  remark- 
able interest,  because  the  author  has  had  oppor- 
tunities which  were  not  possessed  by  Sir  Sidney 
Lee  for  learning  the  truth.  Large  numbers  of 
people  in  this  country  continue  to  think  that  the 
death  of  King  Edward  was  a  very  untoward  and 
untimely  event,  and  represented  a  serious  national 
loss.  They  point  to  the  fact  that  since  his  death 
we  have  had  nothing  but  rumours  of  wars  and 
fierce  defiances  from  one  nation  to  another,  while 
it  cannot  be  said  that  at  home  things  are  at  all 
comfortable. 


THE  "  OFFICIAL  "  BIOGRAPHY      203 

Mr.  Legge  is,  I  believe,  to  say  something  about 
King  Edward's  influence  even  with  those  difficult 
subjects,  the  newspapers.  That  influence  was  one 
of  King  Edward's  most  remarkable  acquirements. 
There  are  London  editors  to-day  who  could  tell 
strange  stories  of  invitations  to  call  at  Buckingham 
Palace,  where,  politely,  but  firmly,  their  delin- 
quencies were  pointed  out  to  them,  and  sug- 
gestions made  and  proffers  of  assistance  given 
which  would  keep  them  in  the  right  path  in  future. 
I  know  that  when,  from  the  first  week  of  his  last 
stay  at  Biarritz,  His  Majesty  was  lying  ill  with 
bronchitis,  a  simple  request  to  the  correspondents, 
who  were  told  the  full  facts,  not  to  say  more  than 
that  he  had  a  bad  cold,  was  quite  enough. 

The  absence  of  news  of  an  alarmist  kind  in  the 
English  papers  caused  intense  anger  to  certain 
financiers  who  were  staying  at  Biarritz  at  the  time. 
They  had  hoped  for  a  great  fall  in  stocks,  and  as 
day  after  day  passed  they  took  to  telegraphing 
on  their  own  behalf  to  the  Stock  Exchange  and  to 
newspapers.  Editors,  however,  took  it  for  granted 
that  the  whole  thing  was  a  money-making  job, 
and  paid  no  heed,  and  when,  within  seven  days,  the 
King  was  once  more  fully  restored  to  health  and 
moving  about  as  usual,  these  financiers  went  nearly 
crazy  over  the  coup  which  the  King's  influence,  as 
I  have  said,  had  prevented  them  from  making. 

What  must  Lord  Knollys's  feelings  have  been 
when  he  read  this  persiflage  in  "  P.I.P.  "  ? 
(October  12) : 

Viscount  Knollys,  principal  private  secretary 
to  the  King,  is  to  relinquish  the  position  at  the  end 
of  the  year.  He  has  received  several  invitations 
from  publishers  to  write  the  story  of  his  nearly 


204        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

half-century's  connection  with  the  Court,  and  one 
well-known  firm  has  offered  him  a  cheque  running 
well  into  five  figures.  It  is  highly  improbable, 
however,  that  this  or  any  other  offer  will  be 
accepted  for  a  book  that  would  be  of  the  deepest 
interest.  Lord  Knollys,  like  every  one  connected 
with  the  British  Court,  was  honour-bound  not  to 
keep  a  diary  or  connected  notes  of  any  description 
while  he  acted  as  confidential  adviser  to  successive 
sovereigns,  and  for  this  reason  alone  it  would  be 
quite  impossible  for  him  to  tell  the  story  of  his 
career  at  Court  in  connected  form.  Indeed,  it  is 
difficult  to  see  at  all  how  the  book  could  be  written 
without  indiscretion  of  a  serious  character,  and 
Lord  Knollys  has  always  enjoyed  the  reputation 
of  being  the  most  discreet  man  in  Europe. 

A   London  evening  paper   (January  31,    1913) 
gave  this  item  from  the  "  Yorkshire  Observer  "  : 

THE  "  LIFE  "  OF  KING  EDWARD. — I  hear 
that  a  beginning  has  at  length  been  made  upon 
the  official  biography  of  King  Edward,  and  that 
the  editorship  has  been  entrusted  to  Mr. 
John  Fortescue,  Royal  Librarian  at  Windsor. 
Mr.  Fortescue,  it  may  be  remembered,  was  re- 
sponsible for  the  official  description  of  their 
Majesties'  Indian  tour.  The  late  King  left  very 
little  material  behind  him  of  biographical  value. 
He  never  kept  a  diary,  and  such  memoranda  a< 
he  left  are  of  a  scrappy  nature,  and  mainly  writtei 
upon  odd  pieces  of  paper. 

The   private   archives   of   Windsor   Castle   will 
be  called  upon  for  some  material,  but  the  work 
will  depend  for  the  most  part  upon  the  personal 
recollections  of  his  friends  and  entourage.     Amon^ 
those  who  have  volunteered  their  assistance  are 


THE  -OFFICIAL"  BIOGRAPHY       205 

Lord    Farquhar,    the    Marquis    de   Several,    and 
Viscount  Knollys. 

The  above  is  inaccurate  throughout,  with 
the  exception  of  the  sentence  :  "  Mr.  Fortescue 
was  responsible  for  the  official  description  of  their 
Majesties'  Indian  tour." 

The  editor  of  the  "Bookseller"1  "fears  that 
the  rumour  is  too  good  to  be  true  which  suggests 
the  possibility  that  Queen  Alexandra  may  permit 
the  publication  of  some  selections  from  the  private 
diary  which  she  is  understood  to  have  kept  during 
the  greater  part  of  her  life.  Yet  there  is  the 
memorable  precedent  of  Queen  Victoria's  *  Leaves 
from  the  Journal  of  our  Life  in  the  Highlands,' 
which  gave  so  delightful  a  series  of  glimpses  of  the 
simple  home  life  of  the  great  Queen.  The  diary  of 
Queen  Alexandra  would  necessarily  be,  in  some 
ways,  more  interesting  still,  since  in  her  life  there 
has  been  nothing  to  correspond  with  the  long  period 
of  retirement  and  seclusion  which  covered  practic- 
ally the  entire  latter  half  of  the  life  and  reign  of 
her  august  mother-in-law.  If  Her  Majesty  should 
happily  be  persuaded  to  allow  us  to  see  some 
extracts  from  the  diary  of  her  experiences  and 
observations  as  Princess  of  Wales  and  as  Queen 
Consort,  we  should  have  what  would  almost 
certainly  be  the  most  interesting  Royal  book  ever 
published.  But  it  is  best  not  to  build  too  much 
upon  a  rumour  which  may  prove,  as  likely  as  not, 
to  have  been  put  about  without  any  sort  of 

1  March  21,  1913. 


206       MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

authority."  When  we  see  Queen  Alexandra's 
"  Diary  "  (!)  we  may  confidently  look  out  for  the 
Millennium. 

The  man  who  is  reputed  to  "  run  "  the  Royal 
44  show "  is  Lord  Esher,  whose  "  reign "  set  in 
during  the  latter  years  of  King  Edward's  life,  and 
has  gone  on  developing  ever  since.  He  is  the 
handy  man  of  the  Palace,  whose  word  is  law. 
In  September  and  October  1912  the  "  Pall  Mall 
Gazette  "  gave  a  series  of  Lord  Esher  day-by-day 
announcements,  each  more  amusing  than  the  other, 
and  all  tending  to  beguile  its  innocent  readers  into 
believing  that  the  noble  lord  had  been  selected  to 
write  the  Life  of  King  Edward.  Queen  Alexandra, 
it  was  said,  had  placed  in  his  hands  all  the  King's 
private  papers,  and  the  "  official  Life"  was  to  be 
issued  "next  autumn"  (1913).  That  galimatias 
was  too  ridiculous  to  evoke  an  official  denial,  and 
it  was  left  to  one  of  the  Government's  most 
powerful  organs  to  contradict  it  :  the  paper  was 
"  Reynolds's,"  whose  devotion  to  Mr.  Asquith  is 
frequently  rewarded  by  the  gift  of  "  items  of 
interest." 

The  idea  of  printing  King  Edward's  letters  is 
truly  comic.  Queen  Alexandra's  naivete  would 
not  carry  her  thus  far.  Fancy  giving  to 
ribald,  scandal-loving  world  the  letters  written 
to  King  Edward  by  Napoleon  in.,  the  Empress, 
the  little  Prince,  Queen  Sophie  of  Holland  and 
"  Citron,"  Princess  Loetitia  Bonaparte  (Dowager 
Duchesse  d'Aoste,  the  flutterer  of  the  dovecotes 
of  the  Quirinal),  George  Russell  (praying  to  be 


THE  "OFFICIAL"  BIOGRAPHY      207 

taken  back  into  the  Royal  favour),  Sir  Jacob 
Wilson  (who  disposed  of  thousands  of  shares  in 
one  of  Hooley's  companies  on  commission),  Count 
" Sherry-and- Whisky,"  Dupplin,  "Jo"  Aylesford, 
Duleep  Singh,  and  the  Venuses  who  posed  before 
the  camera  in  an  era  which  seems  a  hundred  years 
ago !  Yet  a  befooled  public  swallowed  it  all 
open-mouthed  and,  like  Oliver  Twist,  "  asked  for 


more." 


Queen  Alexandra  has  had  reason  on  more  than 
one  occasion  to  complain  of  the  publication  of 
unauthorised  statements  concerning  her  future 
movements.  Such  announcements  cause  her 
much  vexation  personally,  and  are  productive  of 
not  a  little  inconvenience  to  herself  and  many 
others.  Our  Sovereigns  have  been  fortunate  in 
the  possession  of  an  exceptionally  discreet  entour- 
age. '  Leakage "  in  that  quarter  is  unknown. 
The  domestics  at  the  Palaces  have  been  also,  and 
as  a  rule  are,  superior  to  the  blandishments  of 
inquisitive  inquirers. 

After  the  publication  by  several  papers  of  one 
of  these  unofficial  announcements  I  asked  a 
personage  if  there  was  any  foundation  for  the 
statements.  "  Not  the  slightest,"  was  the  reply. 
'  There  is  not  a  word  of  truth  in  any  of  them. 
They  have  caused  Her  Majesty  great  annoyance. 
I  wish  the  writers  of  such  absurdities  would 
confine  their  remarks  to  gossip  about  the  Queen's 
horses,  dogs,  and  birds.  Then  no  harm  would 
be  done." 


CHAPTER    XI 

KING   EDWARD    AND    POETRY 

4 c  IT  is  well  known  that  the  late  King  was  no  very 
devoted  student  of  poetry.  At  a  banquet  upon  a 
semi-literary,  semi-State  occasion  when  the  names 
of  the  guests  had  to  be  submitted  for  the  King's 
personal  inspection,  that  of  an  extremely  well 
known  poet  was  objected  to  on  account,  it  is  said, 
of  its  unfamiliar  and  plebeian  sound.  Explanation 
led  to  frank  admission  of  the  King's  unfamiliarity 
with  some  of  the  chief  poetic  reputations  of  the 
day.  Yet  the  poet  in  question  was  one  of  the 
daintiest  and  most  accomplished  writers  of  vers 
d'occasion  that  the  country  has  produced." * 
Probably  the  writer  accurately  describes  King 
Edward  as  "  no  very  devoted  student  of  poetry  "  ; 
but  I  demur  to  the  assertion  that "  it  is  well  known" 
that  this  was  one  of  his  faiblesses,  just  as,  until 
June  1912,  it  was  anything  but  "  well  known  " 
that  "  he  was  no  reader  of  books.  He  could  not 
concentrate  his  mind  upon  them."  2  How  well 
qualified  the  "  Times "  writer  was  to  discuss 

xThe   "Times    Literary  Supplement,"   June   5,    1913.     Article 
on  the  "  Laureateship  " 

2  "  Dictionary  of  National  Biography  " 

208 


KING  EDWARD  AND  POETRY        209 

such  a  question  as  the  Laureateship  and  King 
Edward's  aloofness  from  poetry  and  from  "  some 
of  the  chief  poetic  reputations  of  the  day  "  will  be 
seen  from  this  extract  from  an  evening  newspaper,1 
headed  "  The  Laureateship.  An  Extraordinary 
Error  "  : 

Although  a  vast  deal  of  nonsense  is  published 
nowadays  as  literary  criticism  or  appreciation, 
one  does  expect  accuracy  in  these  matters  in  the 
more  reputable  and  serious  journals.  Yet  in 
to-day's  (Thursday's)  issue  of  so  weighty  an 
organ  as  the  "  Times  Literary  Supplement,"  in 
an  article  on  "  The  Laureateship,"  I  find  the 
following  paragraph  and  quotation: 

"The  Laureateship  was  not  effectually  raised 
above  the  dust  of  faction  and  party  until  1843, 
when  it  was  conferred  by  acclamation  upon 
William  Wordsworth,  who  took  the  bays,  as  he 
said,  with  palpitating  hand  and  bound  them  upon 
his  locks  of  snow.  He  inscribed  a  sonnet  upon 
the  occasion,  marked  by  that  strange  inversion 
of  modesty  which  repelled  Hazlitt  and  at  times 
staggered  Lamb  : 

There  shall  ye  bide,  till  he  who  follows  next, 

Of  whom  I  cannot  even  guess  the  name, 

Shall  by  Court  favour  or  some  vain  pretext 

Of  fancied  merit,  desecrate  the  same, 

And  think,  perchance,  he  wears  them  quite  as  well 

As  the  sole  Bard  who  sang  of  Peter  Bell." 

Will  it  be  believed  that  a  serious  writer  in  a 
serious  paper  could  have  gravely  made  the  amazing 
error  of  attributing  to  Wordsworth  himself  the 

1  The  "  Globe,"  June  6,  1913. 
14 


210        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

lines  quoted,  which,  as  I  should  have  thought 
everybody  knew,  are  from  the  exquisite  series  of 
parodies  in  Bon  Gaultier's  Ballads  ?  It  makes  one 
despair  indeed  when  such  an  egregious  mistake 
can  appear  in  the  columns  of  what  I  suppose  we 
must  still  consider  our  leading  literary  paper. 
Even  if  the  writer  of  the  article  knew  not  of  the 
existence  of  the  parody,  surely  his  own  common 
sense  might  have  told  him  that  Wordsworth  did 
not  write,  and  never  could  have  written,  the 
sonnet  in  question. 

The  "  Times  "  took  no  notice  of  the  article 
in  the  "  Globe,"  but  in  its  next  Literary  Supple- 
ment (June  12)  it  published,  without  comment, 
this  letter  from  a  correspondent  pointing  out  the 
error  which  was  originally  detected  by  the 
"  Globe  "  : 

To  THE  EDITOR  or  THE  "TIMES" 

SIR, — I  hope  you  will  not  put  it  down  to  an 
inherited  lack  of  humour  if  I  venture  to  protest 
through  you  against  the  writer  of  the  article  on 
the  Laureateship  in  your  issue  of  June  5  definitely 
ascribing  the  sonnet  from  Bon  Gaultier  to  Words- 
worth without  any  hint  of  its  real  authorship. 

I  yield  to  no  one  in  my  appreciation  of  parody, 
but  such  a  use  of  it  as  this  seems  to  me  wholly 
illegitimate,  confusing  to  posterity ;  but  here, 
perhaps,  my  sense  of  humour  is  at  fault,  unjust 
to  the  person  parodied,  and  unjust  to  the  parodisl 
especially  as  in  the  present  case,  when  he  is  f 
less  read  and  quoted  than  he  deserves  to  be.- 
Yours  very  truly,  GORDON  WORDSWORTH. 

The  Stepping  Stones,  Ambleside,  June  10. 


KING  EDWARD  AND  POETRY       211 

Probably  some  of  the  "  new  readers  "  whom 
the  "Times"  has  been  so  joyously  addressing  day 
after  day  (May  1913),  pointing  out  where  they 
will  find  this  and  where  they  will  find  that,  will 
jump  to  the  conclusion  that  King  Edward  lacked 
appreciation  of  poetry.  Such  an  assumption 
would  be  a  mistake.  It  is  curious  to  note  that 
the  editor  of  the  Dictionary  made  no  reference 
to  the  assertion  of  the  "  Times  "  that  the  King 
was  "  no  very  devoted  student  of  poetry  "  ;  but, 
having  committed  himself  to  the  grotesque  state- 
ment that  the  Sovereign  was  "  no  reader  of  books," 
he  probably  considered  it  would  be  superfluous  to 
add  that  His  Majesty  was  unacquainted  with  the 
works  of  the  world's  poets — "  could  not,"  in  fact, 
46  concentrate  his  mind  upon  them." 

Having  admitted  that  the  King  was,  as  the 
"  Times,"  wishing  to  say  something  pleasant, 
puts  it,  "  no  very  devoted  student  of  poetry,"  I 
will  record  the  fact  that  His  Majesty  greatly 
admired  and  fully  appreciated  certain  classes  of 
verse,  and  most  assuredly  would  never  have 
taken  a  Bon  Gaultier  parody  for  a  sonnet  by 
Wordsworth.  It  is  fairly  certain  that  the  King 
and  all  his  brothers  and  sisters  made  acquaintance 
with  "  We  are  Seven  "  and  other  Wordsworthian 
verses  which  fascinate  all  children  when  they  are 
in  the  nursery.  And  I  will  undertake  to  "  eat  my 
hat "  if  any  one  will  prove,  in  the  "  Times  Literary 
Supplement,"  or  in  any  other  equally  fair-minded 
and  accurate  publication,  that  King  Edward  had 
never  read  and  re-read  the  "  Idylls,"  "  Enoch 


212        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

Arden,"  the  ode  on  the  death  of  Wellington,  "  The 
Brook,"  "  The  Princess,"  "  Maud,"  "  Crossing  the 
Bar,"  and  many  other  Tennysonian  gems.  It 
would  be  a  reflection  on  his  memory  and  his 
capacity  for  enjoying  the  deathless  imagery  of 
the  great  poets  to  suppose  that  he  had  not  a  fair 
acquaintance  with  the  poems  of  Goldsmith,  Cowper, 
Thomson,  Pope,  Byron,  Shelley,  Keats,  Coleridge, 
Burns,  Moore,  Macaulay,  Swinburne,  Mrs.  Hemans, 
and  a  score  besides,  not  forgetting  Dibden,  Tom 
Hood,  Longfellow,  Kipling,  Praed,  and  Henley. 
As  for  what  the  "  Times  "  writer  (and  nobody 
else)  calls  "  vers  d'occasion,"  we  may  be  certain 
that  the  King  was  very  familiar  with  many  of 
those  agreeable  and  entertaining  trifles  best  known 
as  "  vers  de  societe." 

The  "  Times  "  article- writer  who  came  such 
a  "  cropper "  over  the  great  Lake  Poet  would 
doubtless  consider  unworthy  his  notice  the  light 
verse  which  has  appeared  for  years  in  the  "  World  " 
from  the  pen  of  Mr.  Mostyn  T.  Pigott  and  that 
which  of  old  "  Truth  "  published  under  the  head- 
ing "  The  Barrel  Organ,"  yet  I  will  venture  to 
say  that  among  the  tens  of  thousands  of  readers 
who  found  these  verses  entertaining  was  Albert 
Edward,  Prince  of  Wales,  Edward  vu.  Of  sue 
it  is  within  the  bounds  of  possibility  that  he  was 
even  "  a  devoted  student."  And  would  such  an 
admirer  of  persiflage  have  ignored  the  "  Bab 
Ballads,"  the  charming  verses  which  helped 
make  the  little  "Owl"  the  talk  of  our  "  al 
London,"  Henry  S.  Leigh's  "  Carols  of  Cockayne,5 


KING  EDWARD  AND  POETRY        213 

and    Calverley's    and   J.  'K.  Stephens'   inimitable 
parodies  ? 

Would  it  not  be  the  height  of  absurdity  to 
suppose  that  King  Edward  had  such  a  disaffec- 
tion for  literature  that  he  had  never  tried  to 
"  concentrate  his  mind  "  even  for  half  an  hour 
upon  "  The  Ingoldsby  Legends,"  "  John  Gilpin," 
Macaulay's  "  Lays  of  Ancient  Rome,"  "  The  Song 
of  the  Shirt,"  Keats's  "Hyperion,"  "The  Eve 
of  St.  Agnes,"  and  "  La  Belle  Dame  sans  Merci," 
"  The  Lay  of  the  Last  Minstrel,"  "  The  Lady  of 
the  Lake,"  and  "  Marmion "  ?  And  Chaucer, 
Milton,  Herrick,  George  Wither,  Ben  Jonson — 
had  he  never  dipped  into  their  pages  ? 

I  presume  that  the  "  Times  "  writer  will  not 
deny  that  the  Russian  poets  who  are  best  known 
in  Europe  are  Pushkin  and  Lermontov,  both  of 
whom  were  young  men  when  they  were  the  victims 
of  fatal  duels.  I  will  hazard  the  conjecture  that 
King  Edward  knew  something  of  the  works  of  the 
former,  if  only  by  hearsay.  That  he  had  read 
Lermontov's  "  Demon,"  or  parts  of  it,  I  am  fairly 
certain,  inasmuch  as  it  was  translated  by  one  of 
my  friends  many  years  before  he  became  one  of 
the  King's  favourite  Gentlemen-in-Waiting — Sir 
Alexander  Condie  Stephen,  who  Englished  "  The 
Demon  "  when  he  was  preparing  himself  for  our 
diplomatic  service. 

Bismarck  and  his  Imperial  master,  William  i., 
had,  after  all,  figuratively,  to  "go  to  Canossa  "  ; 
but  it  would  have  been  preposterous  to  have  told 
King  Edward,  at  any  time  of  his  always  full  life, 


214       MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

that  he  must  "go  to  Parnassus  "  if  he  desired  to 
figure  in  history  as  the  King  who  had  been  "  a 
very  devoted  student  of  poetry."  In  modern 
times  there  has  been  only  one  King  who  devotedly 
studied  poetry  (and  music),  and  he  drowned  him- 
self in  the  Starnberger  See.  George  n.,  we  know, 
openly  confessed  to  hating  "  boetry  and  bainting," 
and  his  successor  also  immortalised  himself  by  de- 
claring of  Shakespeare  :  "  Much  of  this  is  sad  stuff, 
only  one  mustn't  say  so."  Edward  vn.  was  cast 
in  a  different  mould.  He  did  not  waste  his  time 
by  seriously  studying  poetry,  yet  there  were  many 
forms  of  verse  for  which  he  had  genuine  admiration, 
while  it  would  be  folly  to  assert  that  he  had  not  a 
respectful  regard  for  every  class  of  poetry. 

Only  those  who  do  not  know  that  King  Edward 
was  one  of  the  best  of  good  Churchmen,  neither 
too  "  High  "  nor  too  "  Low,"  will  be  inclined  to 
smile  when  they  read  that  all  devotional  poetry 
strongly  appealed  to  him,  as  it  has  likewise  always 
appealed  to  King  George  and  the  other  members 
of  the  Royal  Family.  I  will  illustrate  this  side 
of  King  Edward's  character  by  a  quotation : 

IN   MEMORY   OF   PRINCESS   ALICE   MAUD   MARY, 
GRAND   DUCHESS   OF   HESSE-DARMSTADT. 

DIED    DECEMBER    14,    1878,    AGED    35. 

"Nel  mezzo  del  cammin  di  nostra  vita." 

DANTE,  Inferno,  C.  I.,  v.  i. 

Half-way  upon  Life's  journey,  like  a  rose 

That's  gathered  while  the  leaves  are  still  unfolding, 

Death  gathered  her;   and,  all-triumphant,  shows 

The  fearful  might  with  which  he  keeps  his  holding. 


KING  EDWARD  AND  POETRY       215 

Half-way  upon  Life's  journey,  like  a  song 

That  suddenly  the  whirlwind  has  arrested, 
Death  hush'd  her  voice    ,    .    .    And  now  in  vain  we  long 

To  hear  her  speak.     Death's  power  is  uncontested ! 

Half-way  upon  Life's  journey,  like  a  star 

That,  ere  its  time  for  setting,  clouds  have  hidden, 

Death  has  o'ershadowed  her;  though,  still  afar, 
'Tis  true,  he  seemed  at  first,  and  came  unbidden. 

Half-way  upon  Life's  journey,  Death  drew  near ; 

She  saw  Life  ebb  away,  nor  wished  to  save  it ; 
For  even  what  on  earth  she  held  most  dear 

Unmurmuringly  she  left  for  Him  who  gave  it. 

Half-way  upon  Life's  journey,  met  by  Death, 
She  bowed  beneath  the  sceptre  that  he  wielded, 

And,  scarcely  sighing  with  her  latest  breath, 
She  peacefully  to  God  her  spirit  yielded. 

Half-way  upon  Life's  journey  ?    ...    Is  it  fact 

That  Death  has  laid  his  hand  on  what  we  cherished? 

That  youth  and  beauty,  gentleness  and  tact, 

And  mind  and  heart,  in  one  fell  swoop  have  perished  ? 

Though  half-way  on  Life's  journey,  'twas  a  whole 
Life  she  worked  out  in  youth  ;  and  thus  before  us, 

Unperished  all  her  charms,  she's  reached  the  goal 
Where,  blessed,  glorified,  she  watches  o'er  us ! 

This  poem  was  handed  to,  and  printed  by,  me 
at  the  time — thirty-five  years  ago.  It  was  un- 
signed, and  there  was  much  speculation  as  to  the 
authorship.  The  verses,  as  I  immediately  learnt, 
had  made  a  great  impression  at  the  Palace  and  at 
Marlborough  House  before  it  became  known  that 
they  were  written  by  Miss  Lcetitia  Probyn,  a  sister 


216        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

of  Sir  Dighton,  the  present  Comptroller  of  Queen 
Alexandra's  Household.  It  was  natural  that 
Queen  Victoria,  the  deep-feeling  Prince  of  Wales 
in  particular,  and  the  other  Princes  and  Princesses 
should  have  been  gratified,  and,  I  should  say, 
in  a  large  measure  consoled,  by  this  beautiful 
spontaneous  tribute  to  the  memory  of  Princess 
Alice,  who,  with  the  Princess  of  Wales,  had 
nursed  the  Heir- Apparent  during  the  whole  of  his 
almost  fatal  illness  at  Sandringham  in  November- 
December  1871.  Miss  Probyn  also  wrote  for 
me  an  article  on  the  same  subject,  "A  White 
Wreath,"  which,  I  was  told,  was  received  with 
equal  favour  by  all  those  who  were  directly 
concerned. 

No  one  more  highly  appreciated  elegiac  verse 
than  King  Edward.  This  I  heard  in  Miss  Probyn's 
circle.  Like  everybody  else,  the  King  had  his 
favourite  hymns. 

Had  not  this  King  who,  we  are  now  for  the  first 
time  told,  was  "  no  very  devoted  student  of 
poetry,"  something  more  than  a  nodding  acquaint- 
ance with  such  masters  of  the  poetic  art  as  Moliere 
and  Racine,  Beranger  and  De  Musset  ?  Had  he 
not,  year  after  year,  revelled  in  the  sonorous 
verse  of  the  two  first-named  at  the  Theatre 
Fran^ais  ?  Had  he  not  been  stirred  by  the  magic 
of  Beranger  and  touched  by  the  sentiment  of  "  Ce 
n'est  pas  toi,  Lisette "  ?  A  regular  visitor  for 
many  years  to  the  South  of  France,  the  King 
could  not  possibly  have  been  ignorant  of  that 
pulsating  Proven£al  verse  of  which  the  venerable 


KING  EDWARD  AND  POETRY       217 

Mistral  is  still  the  chief  producer ;  and,  with  a 
glossary  to  guide  him,  King  Edward,  an  exceptional 
master  of  foreign  tongues,  would  have  had  little 
difficulty  in  reading  Mistral's,  and  others',  poems 
in  that  Provenyal  dialect  which  is  so  puzzling  to 
most  people. 

I  should  be  much   surprised  were  I  told  on 
respectable  authority  that  Edward  vn.  was  un- 
acquainted with  the  great,  and  some  of  the  minor, 
German     poets  —  with     Goethe,    Heine,    Burger, 
Uhland   ("Take,    O   boatman,   thrice  thy  fee"), 
Ruckert    (many    of    whose    verses    were    set    by 
Schumann),  Lenau,  and  the  writer  of  the  delightful 

'  Wer  hat  dich  du  schoner  Wald  "  (Mendelssohn). 
And  will  any  one  worthy  of  credence  have  the 
boldness  to  assert  that  the  King  had  not  read, 
and  often  heard  sung,  and  himself  joined  in 
singing,  some  of  the  many  stirring  Soldaten- 
Lieder—  !<  Ich  bien  ein  Preusse,"  the  pathetic 
'  Ich  hatt'  einem  Kameraden,"  the  glorious 
f<  O  Strassburg,  O  Strassburg,  du  wunderschone 
Stadt !  "  "  Die  Wacht  am  Rhein," x  and  "  Husaren 
Heraus  "  ? 

King  Edward's  father,  who,  with  the  Queen, 
taught  the  Royal  children  to  love  poetry,  was 
enthusiastic  over  the  "  Idylls,"  in  the  prelude  to 
which  the  immortal  lines  are  enshrined.  The 
Prince  Consort  wrote  to  "  My  dear  Mr.  Tennyson  " 
asking  him  to  be  good  enough  to  write  his  admirer's 

I 1  sent  to  London  the  first  English  translation  of  this  war-song 
early  in  August  1870.     All  these  rousing  songs  I  heard  in  bivouac 
and  on  the  march  to  Paris  after  Sedan. 


218        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

name  "  in  the  accompanying  volume  of  '  Idylls 
of  the  King.'  You  would  thus  add  a  peculiar 
interest  to  the  book  containing  those  beautiful 
songs,  from  the  perusal  of  which  I  have  derived 
the  greatest  enjoyment."  And  Princess  Alice 
(who  lives  again  in  the  Empress  of  Russia 
and  the  Grand  Duchess  Serge)  wrote  that  the 
Laureate's  !( marvellous  dedication "  (to  her 
adored  father)  "  expressed  everything  I  feel  and 
could  wish  to  say.  All  I  can  add,  and  with  a 
heavy  sigh,  is  that  I  would  be  worthier  of  such 
a  father." 

How  often  had  the  Prince  and  Princess  of 
Wales  read  with  dim  eyes  and  joyful  hearts 
these  lines  of  Thanksgiving  addressed  by  the 
Laureate  "  To  THE  QUEEN  !  " 

O  loyal  to  the  royal  in  thyself, 

And  loyal  to  thy  land,  as  this  to  thee — 

Bear  witness  that  rememberable  day 

When,  pale  as  yet,  and  fever-worn,  the  Prince 

Who  scarce  had  plucked  his  flickering  life  again 

From  half-way  down  the  shadow  of  the  grave 

Passed  with  thee  thro'  thy  people  and  their  love, 

And  London  roll'd  one  tide  of  joy  thro'  all 

Her  trebled  millions,  and  loud  leagues  of  man 

And  welcome !    witness,  too,  the  silent  cry, 

The  prayer  of  many  a  race  and  creed,  and  clime — 

Thunderless  lightnings  striking  under  sea 

From  sunset  and  sunrise  of  all  thy  realm    .    .    .  l 

Of  the  verses  which  Queen  Alexandra  used 
write  for  her  children  to  repeat  to  their  father  01 

1  Written  by  Tennyson  on  the  recovery  of  the  Prince  of 
from  his  illness  in  1871. 


KING  EDWARD  AND  POETRY        219 

November  the  9th,  only  these  were  allowed  to  be 
published  : x 

FOR    PAPA'S   BIRTHDAY, 

9TH    NOVEMBER. 

Day  of  pleasure, 

Brightly  dawning, 
Take  the  gift 

Of  this  sweet  morning! 
Our  best  hopes 

And  wishes  blending 
Must  yield  joy 

That's  never  ending. 

It  was  not  the  fault  of  Queen  Victoria  and  her 
consort  if  the  Royal  children  were  not  steeped  in 
German  poetry,  which  they  imbibed  almost  from 
their  infancy.  They  were  thus  led  to  love  those 
captivating  Volkslieder  which  they  were  always 
hearing.  The  Queen  sang  Mendelssohn's  songs 
to  the  composer's  own  accompaniment.  In  that 
atmosphere  King  Edward  grew  up  ;  there  was  no 
necessity  for  him  to  pore  over  the  "  Gradus  ad 
Parnassum,"  that  "  most  intellectual  trap-door 
to  the  classics,"  either  in  his  youth  or  his  man- 
hood. 

What  a  touch  of  nature  was  apparent  in  that 
scene  at  the  Town  Hall  at  Berlin,  in  1909,  when, 
in  honour  of  the  King  and  Queen  Alexandra,  a 
male  choir  chanted  "In  einem  Kiihlen  Grunde," 
one  of  those  sweet  Lieder  so  loved  by  Edward  vn., 
and  more  in  accordance  with  his  simple,  homely 
tastes  than  the  theatrical  Court  ceremonies  which 

1  The  "  Sketch,"  January  15,  1913. 


220        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

he  had  to  attend  !  At  one  time  or  other  some  one 
must  have  told  him,  to  his  amusement,  that,  when 
his  parents  went  to  France  during  the  Crimean 
war,  his  father  and  Napoleon  in.  sang  in  unison 
in  a  carriage  some  of  the  German  Volkslieder,  with 
for  sole  audience  Queen  Victoria. 

Would  it  have  added  to  King  Edward's  fame 
had  he  been  "  a  very  devoted  student  of  poetry  "  ? 
And  how  many  precious  hours  a  day  should  he  have 
given  to  the  study  ?  '  To  become  a  blacksmith 
you  must  work  at  the  forge."  Edward  vn.  knew 
as  well  as  any  of  us  that,  as  Fanshawe  wrote — 

.    .    .    With  a  load  of  care 
Men  cannot  climb  Parnassus  cliffe. 


CHAPTER    XII 

HISTORY    OF   THE   KING'S    ILLNESS 

Miss  LIND-AF-HAGEBY,  editor  of  the  "  Anti-Vivi- 
section Review,"  stated  in  the  Court  of  King's 
Bench  *  that,  after  King  Edward's  death,  a 
leaflet  was  issued  by  the  Parliamentary  Anti- 
Vivisection  Society  in  which  reference  was  made  to 
a  course  of  vaccine  treatment,  and  it  was  said  that 
the  cause  of  His  Majesty's  death  was  vivisection. 
Mr.  Duke  asked  Miss  Lind  if  Queen  Alexandra 
wrote  a  public  repudiation  of  that  charge,  and 
Miss  Lind  replied  that  she  did  not  remember. 
Sir  George  Kekewich,  of  Feltham,  Middlesex,  gave 
evidence  in  the  case.  Cross-examined  by  Mr. 
Duke,  Sir  George  said  that  the  words  referring  to 
the  vaccine  treatment  which  King  Edward  under- 
went were  the  words  of  the  "  British  Medical 
Journal,"  but  a  leaflet  was  issued  by  the  Parlia- 
mentary Anti- Vivisection  Society : 

Do  you  believe  that  the  cause  of  the  King's 
death  was  that  treatment  ? — I  believed  it,  and  I 
believe  it  now. 

1  In  an  action  (which  failed)  brought  against  the  "  Pall  Mall 
Gazette  "  and  others.     The  above  evidence  was  given  on  April  6, 

1913- 

221 


222        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

Did  your  society  withdraw  the  leaflet  and 
apologise  for  it  ? — They  withdrew  it  because 
Queen  Alexandra  objected.  Why  she  objected 
I  do  not  know.  One  reason  for  publication  was 
that  I  felt  resentment  against  the  doctors  for 
having  used  that  treatment. 

Mr.  Duke  then  read  the  following  letter,  which 
Queen  Alexandra  sent  to  the  Press  on  May  24, 
1910: 

Queen  Alexandra  is  very  grieved  that  a  report 
has  been  printed  and  circulated  by  some  society 
that  the  death  of  the  late  King  was  caused  by  a 
vaccine  treatment  he  had  received  to  prevent  him 
from  contracting  influenza  and  pneumonia  before 
His  Majesty  went  to  Biarritz.  Her  Majesty  wishes 
it  to  be  known  that  before  the  late  King  left  Eng- 
land he  had  never  been  in  better  health  or  spirits 
than  after  this  vaccine  treatment.  It  kept  His 
Majesty  in  perfect  health  for  15  months.  Her 
Majesty  wishes  it  to  be  known  that  his  attack  was 
in  no  way  connected  with  his  professional  treat- 
ment. 

Mr.  Duke  (to  Sir  George  Kekewich).— You  do 
not  understand  why  Queen  Alexandra  desired  to 
contradict  the  statement  ? — No ;  and  there  was 
no  intention  whatever  of  saying  anything  that 
would  diplease  Her  Majesty  in  any  way.  It  was 
intended  as  a  protest  against  the  horrible,  dis- 
gusting vaccine  treatment.  Miss  Lind  had  nothing 
to  do  with  it. 

Mr.  Duke. — It  was  your  society  ? 

The  Witness. — It  is  merely  an  attack  on  myself. 
In  re-examination  Sir  George  Kekewich  said  in 
his  opinion  the  late  King's  malady  was  not  such 


HISTORY  OF  THE  KING'S  ILLNESS     223 

as  to  lead  to  sudden  death,  but  he  thought  the 
natural  thing  to  suppose  was  that  His  Majesty 
suffered  from  blood  poisoning  in  consequence  of 
the  injection  and  use  of  vaccine. 

Queen  Alexandra's  letter  of  May  1910,  although 
generally  published,  was  less  generally  read  than 
in  April  1913,  when  it  came  upon  many  people  as 
something  new.  In  these  circumstances  it  is  de- 
sirable to  place  on  record  not  only  Her  Majesty's 
communication,  but  the  authorised  report  of  the 
King's  last  illness  drawn  up  by  His  Majesty's 
physicians.  That  document  is  as  follows  : 

The  brief  illness  of  the  King  and  its  rapid  and 
fatal  termination  can  only  be  understood  after 
reference  to  his  physical  condition  as  a  whole, 
when  the  sequence  of  events  becomes  clear. 

His  Majesty  had  for  some  years  suffered  from 
emphysema,  with  an  attendant  bronchial  catarrh, 
the  signs  of  which  were  permanently  present  at  the 
bases  of  the  lungs.  On  several  occasions  digestive 
disturbances  and  other  symptoms  had  caused 
his  medical  attendants  to  realise  that  His  Majesty 
no  longer  had  the  reserve  of  constitutional  power 
which  stood  him  in  such  splendid  stead  after  his 
serious  operation  in  1902,  and  that  any  inter- 
current  catarrhal  or  bronchitic  attack  of  a  severe 
kind  would  at  once  call  upon  both  heart  and  lungs 
for  their  fullest  effort.  It  must  here  be  said  that 
those  around  him  knew  how  earnestly  concerned  he 
was  at  the  present  strained  position  of  political 
affairs,  and  this  fact  should  not  be  lost  sight  of  in  an 
all-round  consideration  of  the  King's  health? 

1  The  sentence  which  I  have  italicised  bears  out  my  contention 
in  "  King  Edward  in  his  True  Colours." — AUTHOR. 


224        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

On  March  7,  it  will  be  remembered,  His  Majesty 
started  for  Biarritz  to  obtain  a  little  leisure  from 
these  anxieties.  He  had  received  some  months 
previously  a  vaccination  treatment  which  it  was 
hoped  would  secure  him  for  some  time  from 
catarrhal  attacks.  He  broke  the  journey  in  Paris, 
and  on  the  first  night  there  had  a  severe  attack  of 
acute  indigestion,  with  subsequent  dyspnoea  and 
considerable  cardiac  distress.  The  symptoms  had 
arisen  out  of  exertion,  and  yielded  promptly  to 
treatment. 

The  next  day  His  Majesty  exchanged  visits 
with  President  Fallieres  and  fulfilled  his  ordinary 
social  engagements.  But  on  arrival  at  Biarritz  it 
became  clear  that  he  had  contracted  a  chill  which 
developed  into  a  regular  bronchitic  attack — the 
raised  temperature,  accelerated  pulse  and  respira- 
tions, and  the  physical  signs  in  the  chest  occasion- 
ing his  physician  no  little  anxiety.  The  attack 
lasted  ten  days,  during  several  of  which  he  was 
confined  to  his  bed,  but  the  symptoms  passed  off, 
and  for  the  rest  of  the  visit  His  Majesty  led  his 
usual  life,  making  excursions  and  entertaining 
quietly. 

His  Majesty  came  back  from  Biarritz  on 
Wednesday,  April  27,  better  in  every  way,  and  at 
once  took  up  the  thread  of  his  very  full  life.  On 
Saturday,  April  30,  he  went  down  to  Sandringham 
feeling  a  little  unwell,  and  on  Sunday,  after  attend- 
ing service,  he  spent  a  long  day  looking  at  some 
extensive  new  planting  and  gardening  alterations, 
with  the  result  that  a  fresh  chill  was  contracted. 
On  Monday,  May  2,  he  returned  to  London  in 
very  cold  weather,  feeling  somewhat  chilly  and 
out  of  sorts.  He,  however,  fulfilled  a  social  en- 
gagement to  dinner. 

That  evening,  on  returning  from  dinner,  His 


Photo}  [Jugami. 

KING  EDWARD  ON  HIS  LAST  VISIT  TO  BIARRITZ 
AT  THE  END  OF  MARCH  1910. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  KING'S  ILLNESS    225 

Majesty  was  seen  by  one  of  his  physicians,  who 
found  him  complaining  of  some  dyspnoea,  with 
slightly  raised  temperature  and  quickened  pulse 
and  respirations  ;  distinct  bronchial  crepitations 
were  present  over  the  bases  of  both  lungs.  He 
passed  a  disturbed  night.  On  Tuesday  morning, 
May  3,  the  symptoms  had  abated,  he  felt  better, 
and  the  temperature  was  normal,  but  he  suffered 
from  much  cough  and  expectoration,  and  con- 
siderable dyspnoea. 

Notwithstanding  the  urgent  desire  of  his 
physicians  that  he  should  rest  quietly,  His  Majesty 
again  received  official  visitors  and  gave  audiences. 
That  evening  at  7  p.m  the  King  told  his  physicians 
that  he  felt  ill,  and  he  had  more  than  one  attack  of 
severe  dyspnoea  during  that  night,  the  attacks 
not  being  occasioned,  as  hitherto,  by  exertion.  On 
the  morning  of  Wednesday,  May  4,  the  tempera- 
ture was  99°  F.  and  the  pulse  90,  and  he  com- 
plained of  irritation  in  the  throat.  He  was  seen 
by  the  throat  specialist  who  had  seen  him  on 
former  occasions,  but  the  only  condition  found 
was  catarrh,  and  there  was  now  an  irritable  and 
catarrhal  condition  also  observable  in  connection 
with  the  other  organs. 

His  Majesty  again,  however,  gave  several  im- 
portant audiences.  At  6.15  p.m.  a  consultation 
was  held  by  his  three  physicians,  who  found  that 
the  two  consecutive  bad  nights  and  some  severe 
attacks  of  dyspncea  had  told  seriously  upon  His 
Majesty.  There  was  a  very  imperfect  entry  of 
air  at  both  bases  and  much  fine  bronchial  crepita- 
tion ;  the  right  side  of  the  heart  was  embarrassed. 
The  temperature  was  normal  and  the  respiration 
34.  One  of  his  physicians  remained  at  the  Palace, 
and  the  King  passed  a  disturbed  night.  On 
Thursday  morning,  May  5,  His  Majesty's  con- 
15 


226        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

dition  was  not  improved ;  he  again,  however, 
gave  audiences.  The  attacks  of  dyspnoea  were 
more  frequent  and  distressing,  and  with  increas- 
ing cyanosis  were  gravely  suggestive  of  threat- 
ened cardiac  failure.  In  the  afternoon  the  Queen 
arrived  from  the  Continent,  and  the  fact  that 
the  King  was  not  at  the  station  to  meet  her 
was  the  first  indication  to  the  public  that  His 
Majesty  wras  indisposed.  With  the  permission 
of  the  King,  the  physicians  now  issued  their 
first  bulletin,  that  "  The  King  is  suffering  from 
bronchitis,  and  has  been  confined  to  his  room 
for  two  days.  His  Majesty's  condition  causes 
some  anxiety,"  which  appeared  in  some  of  the 
evening  papers,  but  not  until  it  had  been  seen 
by  His  Majesty,  who  somewhat  modified  its 
terms. 

Sir  Francis  Laking  and  Sir  James  Reid  remained 
at  the  Palace.  Up  to  4.30  a.m.  on  Friday  morn- 
ing His  Majesty  had  a  better  night,  but  in  the  early 
hours  of  Friday  he  had  several  severe  attacks  of 
dyspnoea,  and  when  visited  that  morning  by  his 
physicians  it  was  at  once  seen  that  the  gravity 
of  the  symptoms  had  increased.  A  bulletin  was 
issued,  stating,  "  The  King  has  passed  a  com- 
paratively quiet  night,  but  the  symptoms  have  not 
improved,  and  His  Majesty's  condition  gives  rise 
to  grave  anxiety." 

Thereafter  His  Majesty's  condition  grew  rapidly 
worse.  He  had  more  than  one  attack  of  dyspnoea 
of  a  dangerous  character,  following  upon  slight 
movements,  from  which  he  was  only  rallied  by 
powerful  remedies.  About  three  p.m.  conscious- 
ness began  to  fail,  and  the  third  bulletin  was  issued, 
stating,  "  The  King's  symptoms  have  become 
worse  during  the  day,  and  His  Majesty's  condition 
is  now  critical."  Consciousness  never  completely 


HISTORY  OF  THE  KING'S  ILLNESS    227 

returned.     The  end  came  at  11.45  p.m.,  after  a 
prolonged  period  of  perfect  calm. 

FRANCIS  HENRY  LAKING,  M.D. 

JAMES  REID,  M.D. 

R.  DOUGLAS  POWELL,  M.D. 


CHAPTER    XIII 

KING   EDWARD    IN    STORY 

Anecdotes  of  Kings,  Princes,  Ministers,  or  any  celebrities,  are 
always  acceptable.  I  have  often  thought  that  my  Journal  would 
have  been  more  entertaining  if  I  had  scribbled  down  all  I  heard 
and  saw  in  society. — C.  C.  F.  GREVILLE  ("  Memoirs  "). 

"  A  THEORY  as  to  how  and  why  the  Crown  Jewels 
disappeared "  from  Dublin  Castle  in  1907  has 
been  propounded  by  the  well-known  writer,  Mr. 
Filson  Young,1  who  thinks  that  those  who  accept 
his  theory  will  agree  with  him  "  that  Sir  Arthur 
Vicars  has  suffered  in  his  own  esteem  and  in  that 
of  the  public  far  more  than  enough  for  whatever 
faults  of  ill- judgment  or  negligence  he  may  have 
committed.  Such  is  the  course  of  this  strange 
affair,  that  there  is  no  ordinary  and  official  avenue 
by  which  he  can  regain  the  position  he  has  lost. 
The  King,  whose  command  arrested  the  only 
machinery  which  could  have  cleared  Sir  Arthur, 
is  the  only  person  who  can  restore  him  to  public 
honour.  I  cannot  help  thinking  that  King  Edward 
could  have  done  it  if  he  had  liked  ;  and  it  would 
be  an  act  both  of  grace  and  justice  of  King  George 
if  he  were  thus  to  complete  the  work  of  tactful 

1  In  the  "Saturday  Review,"  July  12,  1913. 


KING  EDWARD  IN  STORY  229 

and    powerful    interference    that    King    Edward's 
death  prevented  him  from  finishing." 

The  "  Times  "  of  July  5,  1913,  reported  that  on 
the  previous  day,  in  the  King's  Bench  Division, 
Sir  Arthur  Vicars,  formerly  Ulster  King  of  Arms, 
was  awarded  £5000  damages  in  an  action  for  libel 
against  the  proprietors,  printer,  and  editor  of  the 
"  London  Mail,"  a  weekly  publication.  The  libel 
was  contained  in  a  reference  to  the  disappearance 
of  the  Crown  Jewels  from  Dublin  Castle  in  1907, 
and  it  was  described  by  Mr.  Campbell,  K.C.,  the 
plaintiff's  leading  counsel,  as  !<  an  abominable 
and  atrocious  libel,  persisted  in  with  extraordinary 
cruelty  and  malice."  [While  the  learned  Counsel 
was  speaking  Mr.  Montague  Shearman,  K.C., 
who  appeared  for  the  defendants,  said  he  had 
already  told  Mr.  Campbell  that  no  attempt  would 
be  made  of  any  kind  to  justify  what  had  been 
written.  Mr.  Campbell  said  he  had  been  informed 
of  this  only  on  that  day.]  Continuing  his  opening, 
Mr.  Campbell  said  that  at  the  first  meeting  of  the 
Commission  Sir  Arthur  Vicars  attended  before 
it  by  his  counsel,  who  first  asked  if  the  inquiry 
was  to  be  a  public  inquiry,  and  he  was  told  it 
was  not.  In  answer  to  further  inquiries  he  was 
told  that  the  testimony  taken  would  not  be  on 
oath  and  that  there  would  be  no  power  to  compel 
the  presence  of  witnesses.  Sir  Arthur  Vicars  then 
by  his  counsel  refused  to  have  anything  further 
to  do  with  the  inquiry.  The  Commission  went 
on  and  continued  their  proceedings  in  private, 
and  they  eventually  found  that  there  had  been 


230        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

negligence  in  the  custody  of  those  jewels.  Sir 
Arthur  had  many  friends  on  his  side  in  the  matter, 
and  among  them  all  the  Knights  of  St.  Patrick. 
The  plaintiff  had  petitioned  His  Majesty  for 
redress  and  he  had  every  hope  of  the  petition's 
meeting  with  a  favourable  result.  The  learned 
counsel  concluded  by  saying  that  no  one  knew 
what  a  life  of  misery  and  suffering  the  plaintiff 
had  gone  through  during  the  last  few  years. 

Sir  Arthur  Edward  Vicars,  in  his  evidence, 
Baid  he  had  been  petitioning  for  redress  for  years, 
his  petitions  being  supported  by  numerous  in- 
fluential people,  including  Knights  of  St.  Patrick. 
He  had  petitioned  the  King,  who  had  referred  the 
petition  to  Mr.  Birrell,  but  he  had  heard  nothing 
more  about  it  :  it  was  under  consideration.  There 
was  not  a  shred  or  particle  of  foundation  for  any 
of  the  statements  contained  in  the  libel.  He  never 
knew  a  woman  named  Molly  Moloney  or  Mme. 
Robinson.  He  was  not  playing  cards  on  the 
night  before  the  removal  of  the  jewels  with  Lord 
Ronald  Sutherland-Gower,  Mr.  Shackleton,  and 
that  woman.  Sir  Arthur  said  when  he  took 
office  in  1893  he  did  not  know  of  the  existence  of 
these  jewels.  They  were  required  for  his  in- 
vestiture, and  the  key  and  the  box  containing 
them  were  handed  to  him  by  an  Office  messenger. 
He  (Sir  Arthur)  took  them  to  the  Assistant  Under- 
secretary and  asked  him  to  put  them  in  the 
Under-Secretary's  safe.  He  then  asked  the  Board 
of  Works  for  a  proper  safe  in  which  to  keep  them, 
and  one  was  provided.  Some  years  later  new 


KING  EDWARD  IN  STORY  231 

offices,  containing  a  strong  room,  were  provided 
for  him,  and  he  intended  to  put  the  safe  into  that 
room,  but  it  was  found  that  the  door  had  been 
made  too  narrow  to  admit  it,  so  that  the  safe 
was  left  outside.  The  strong  room  had  windows 
looking  out  into  the  Castle  yard.  The  jewels 
belonged  originally  to  the  Crown  Jewels  of  England, 
and  were  sent  over  to  be  used  by  the  Grand 
Master  of  St.  Patrick.  Mr.  Justice  Darling  : 
Of  what  did  they  consist  ?  Sir  A.  Vicars  :  Of  a 
badge  with  a  chain  to  go  round  the  neck,  and  a 
large  diamond  star.  Mr.  Justice  Darling  :  Then 
when  you  refer  to  the  Crown  Jewels  you  mean 
those  two  things  only  ?  Sir  A.  Vicars  :  Yes. 
Anyone  could  carry  them  away  in  his  pocket. 
Mr.  Campbell :  Have  you  the  slightest  know- 
ledge or  idea  as  to  what  has  become  of  them 
since  ?  Sir  A.  Vicars  :  Not  the  slightest.1 

King  Edward  and  his  mother  were  probably 
better  linguists  than  any  other  Royal  personages 
in  Europe.  This,  of  course,  is  a  truism ;  but 
only  a  very  few  outside  the  Palaces  can  be  aware 
of  the  fact  that  both  mother  and  son  were  pro- 
ficients in  the  mechanical  language  of  the  deaf 
and  dumb.  "I  was  at  the  Palace,"  said  one  of 
my  friends,  "  when,  besides  Queen  Victoria  and 
the  Prince  of  Wales,  only  two  or  three  persons  were 
present.  An  active  conversation  went  on,  to  my 
surprise,  between  mother  and  son,  not  in  audible 
sounds,  but  with  the  aid  of  their  fingers.  In 
this  silent  language  the  Prince  conveyed  to 

1  Vide  Chap.  III.,  "The  Iron  Fist." 


232        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

his  mother  something  which  caused  the  Queen 
to  smile  as  if  she  thoroughly  enjoyed  whatever 
it  was  that  was  signalled  to  her  by  her  son's 
fingers,  and,  leaning  forwards,  she  playfully 
tapped  him  on  the  shoulder  with  her  fan,  meaning 
thereby  (or  so  I  took  it),  6  That's  very  naughty, 
Bertie.'  During  this  little  comedy  the  members  of 
the  Queen's  suite  who  were  present  looked  straight 
before  them  with  impassive  countenances,  as  if  they 
were  listening  to  a  play  in  Chinese  or  Turkish." 

Who  were  King  Edward's  greatest  friends 
outside  the  official  circle  ?  Had  His  Majesty  been 
asked  the  question,  and  had  he  deigned  to  reply, 
I  think  he  would  have  admitted  that  the  men 
who  had  rendered  him  services  which  he  most 
appreciated  were  Sir  Ernest  Cassel  and  the  late 
much-maligned,  but  eminently  just  and  generous, 
Baron  de  Hirsch.  As  Prince  of  Wales,  King 
Edward,  as  Queen  Victoria's  deputy  for  so  many 
years — practically  from  the  death  of  the  Prince 
Consort  in  December  1861  until  the  passing  of 
the  Queen  in  January  1901 — was  forced  into 
lavish  expenditure.  He  bore  the  natural  result 
of  this  vast  outlay  without  any  apparent  irritation. 
A  man  of  a  weaker  temperament  would  have 
succumbed.  He  was  doing  "  the  right  thing," 
he  was  representing  his  Sovereign-Mother,  he  was 
gratifying  the  nation,  he  was  "  keeping  things 
going  "  during  the  Queen's  long  absences  from  the 
public  stage.  The  man  in  the  street,  "  the  man 
with  the  umbrella  on  the  'bus,"  who  swore  by  the 
Prince,  knew  as  well  as  any  M.P.  that  he  was 


KING  EDWARD  IN  STORY  233 

underpaid  for  his  work.  A  common  observation 
among  the  horny-handed  was  :  "  W'y,  'e  don't 
git  'is  ex's  ! 5:  And  that  was  true.  Nevertheless, 
he  went  on  his  way  with  a  smile  and  a  brave 
heart.  The  few  who  knew  the  difficulty,  some- 
times the  tragedy,  of  the  position  said  nothing — 
very  properly.  Those  who  did  not  know  started 
the  wickedest  untruths,  some  of  which  I  was  able 
to  deny. 

It  was  told  of  King  Edward  that,  when  he  was 
Prince,  he  "  took  up  "  Baron  de  Hirsch  (some  of 
whose  wealth  was  inherited  by  Baron  de  Forest) 
"  and  pitchforked  him  into  the  whirlpool  of  London 
society,  of  which  he  has  now  (1889)  become  a 
shining  light  "  : 

The  financier  has  been  honoured  in  London 
with  the  exceedingly  rare  privilege  of  the  private 
entree  at  Buckingham  Palace,  and  has  blossomed 
forth  into  an  honoured  guest,  not  only  at  Marl- 
borough  House,  but  also  at  the  mansions  of  men 
so  exclusive  as  the  Dukes  of  Richmond  and 
Westminster,  which  the  Prince  frequents.  I 
mention  these  cases  to  show  the  Prince's  extra- 
ordinary social  power,  an  autocracy  which,  all 
things  considered,  has  been  of  a  beneficent  and 
fortunate  nature.  .  .  .  Aside  from  the  natural 
disinclination  to  provoke  outbursts  of  ill-temper 
on  the  part  of  so  good-humoured  and  jovial- 
hearted  a  prince,  there  is  a  universal  disposition 
to  abstain  from  all  individual  criticism  or  censure 
of  his  conduct.  He  lives  in  an  atmosphere  of 
such  loyalty  that  it  may  almost  be  described  as 
sycophancy,  and  although  he  may  be  made  the 
object  of  collective  and  indirect  criticism  from  those 


234       MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

who  do  not  come  into  actual  contact  with  him, 
yet  there  is  no  one  who  ventures  personally  to 
point  out  to  him  the  right  and  wrong  of  his  ways. 


The  ridiculous  assertion  made  by  several 
papers  in  1896  that  one  of  Baron  de  Hirsch's 
bitterest  disappointments  in  life  was  the  absolute 
refusal  of  "  the  Rothschilds "  to  "  recognise  " 
him  was  inaccurate.  Neither  was  there  any 
foundation  for  the  statement  that  the  Prince  of 
Wales  borrowed  "  enormous  sums "  from  the 
deceased  gentleman. 

Among  the  surviving  friends  of  King  Edward 
Lord  Suffield  is  perhaps  the  one  who  can  claim 
longest  acquaintance,  for  he  enjoyed  His  Majesty's 
confidence  for  the  greater  part  of  half  a  century. 
Lord  Knollys,  of  course,  stands  on  an  altogether 
different  plane  ;  as  Private  Secretary  since  1870, 
he  was  in  more  intimate  relationship  with  King 
Edward,  and  later  with  King  George,  than  any  one 
outside  the  ever-extending  circle  of  the  Royal 
Family.  There  are  two  or  three  well-known 
personages  who  were  on  such  exceptionally  good 
terms  with  the  beloved  Monarch  that  they  were 
requested,  and  expected,  to  address  him  without 
any  formality  whatsoever.  When  the  King  re- 
turned to  London  after  a  Continental  sojourn 
these  favoured  friends  might  approach  him 
with  some  such  congratulatory  and  welcoming 
phrase  as,  e.g.,  "  How  well  you  look !  Never 
saw  you  looking  better  ! ?:  No  need  of  formal 
phraseology  like  "  Your  Majesty  "  or  "  Sir." 


KING  EDWARD  IN  STORY  235 

Some  few  there  are  who,  like  Lord  Coventry, 
have  agreeable  recollections  of  the  manifestations 
of  loyalty  which  were  made  when,  in  1867,  the 
Prince  of  Wales  first  appeared  in  the  hunting  fields 
of  Worcestershire.  I  have  vivid  memories  of  that 
fine  day's  sport,  in  which  all  the  territorial  magnates 
of  the  shire  took  part.  The  Prince  was  the  guest 
of  the  Due  d'Aumale,  at  the  chateau  of  Wood 
Norton,  by  Evesham,  which  was  bequeathed  to 
the  Due  d' Orleans  by  his  Royal  uncle,  and  sold 
by  the  Royalist  Pretender  in  1912.  The  Orleanist 
host  of  the  Prince  of  Wales  of  those  days  was  on 
the  most  friendly  terms  with  the  then  Heir- Apparent 
and  the  Royal  Family. 

On  the  occasion  referred  to  I  remember  the 
admiration  expressed  by  a  record  "  field  "  at  the 
plucky,  but  not  venturesome,  "  going "  of  the 
Heir- Apparent,  who  retained  his  excellent  "  seat  " 
until  the  last,  although  of  late  years  he  was  not 
seen  often  in  the  saddle,  except  on  a  pony  at 
Sandringham.  The  bolder  rider  of  the  two  was 
Queen  Alexandra,  who,  in  the  earlier  seventies, 
was  a  charming  figure  in  the  hunting  field,  and 
notably  when  she  and  "  the  Prince  "  were  the 
guests  at  Trentham  of  the  then  Duke  and  Duchess 
of  Sutherland.1  That  duke  was  one  of  the  earliest- 
chosen  friends  of  the  Prince,  and  both,  in  suitable 
dress,  were  sometimes  to  be  seen  on  an  engine 
dashing  off  to  a  great  fire. 

The  names  of  a  score  of  intimate  friends  of 
King  Edward  rise  in  the  memory.  Among  others 

1  Parents  of  the  Duke  who  died  in  June,  1913. 


236        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

are  Count  Albert  Mensdorff-Pouilly,  Austro-Hun- 
garian  Ambassador,  who,  as  a  relative,  was  oftener 
than  most  of  the  habitues  of  Buckingham  Palace, 
Windsor  Castle,  and  Sandringham  to  be  seen  in  the 
Royal  circle ;  the  Marquis  de  Soveral,  ex-Portuguese 
Minister;  Mr.  Alfred  de  Rothschild,  Sir  Ernest 
Cassel,  a  valued  adviser  of  the  late  Sovereign ;  Mr. 
Arthur  Sassoon,  Lord  Howe,  holder  of  the  double 
post  of  Lord-in- Waiting  to  King  Edward  and  Lord 
Chamberlain  to  Queen  Alexandra  ;  Lords  Esher, 
Alington,  Marcus  Beresf ord,  and  Ilchester  ;  and 
Lord  Burnham,  so  often  His  Majesty's  host  at  the 
annual  "  shoots  "  at  Hall  Barn. 

Edward  vn.  was  for  forty  years  on  the  friendliest 
terms  with  the  late  Lord  Glenesk.  No  one  more 
than  the  King,  as  Prince,  enjoyed  the  audacious 
and  witty  articles,  paragraphs,  and  verses  which, 
in  the  late  sixties,  made  the  little  "  Owl,"  under 
Algernon  Borthwick's  editorship,  the  most  enter- 
taining journalette  in  the  world.  It  was  Mr. 
Borthwick  (as  Lord  Glenesk  then  was)  who,  owing 
to  his  intimate  relations  with  Napoleon  in.,  was 
able  to  inform  the  Prince  of  what  was  happen- 
ing at  Chislehurst  when  the  exiles  took  up  their 
abode  at  Camden  Place  ;  and  from  the  editor  of 
the  "  Morning  Post "  Queen  Victoria  and  the 
Prince  of  Wales  learnt  the  details  of  the  serious, 
but  futile,  attempts  made  by  the  Emperor,  the 
Empress  Eugenie,  and  their  supporters  to  restore 
the  Bonapartist  dynasty.  By  the  King's  death 
the  Empress  lost  her  most  powerful  and  most 
cherished  friend. 


KING  EDWARD  IN  STORY  237 

Lord  Alfred  Paget  was  one  of  the  companions 
of  the  Prince  "in  the  days  that  were  earlier." 
There  was  a  time — and  a  considerable  time — when 
the  two  were  almost  inseparable.  That  was  the 
gay  period  when  the  jeunesse  doree  swarmed 
around  the  Prince-Leader  of  London  Society. 

** 

Lord  Dupplin,  Lord  Blandford  ("  Jo,"  later  Duke 
of  Marlborough),  George  Russell,  Christopher 
Sykes,  Oscar  Clayton,  Dr.  Quain,  Lord  Carrington, 
and  Oliver  Montagu,  to  name  only  a  few,  were  all 
prominent  figures  in  "  the  Prince's  set."  The 
social  chroniclers  of  those  joyous  days  had  plenty 
to  write  about;  marvellous,  and  most  amusing, 
were  the  stories  which  were  retailed  by  our  "  all 
London  "  in  the  later  sixties  and  throughout  the 
seventies. 

Lord  Alfred  Paget  was  in  exceptional  favour 
at  the  Court  of  Queen  Victoria.  The  genial 
Clerk  Marshal  had  a  large  family,  and  one  day  the 
Queen,  who  could  be  very  humorous  on  occasion, 
and  appreciated  wit  in  others,  said :  "  How  many 
children  have  you  now,  Lord  Alfred  ?  "  He 
mentioned  them  by  name.  "  Are  you  sure  you 
have  not  forgotten  one  ?  "  inquired  the  Queen. 
'  I  don't  think  so,  Ma'am,"  he  replied.  "  Oh  yes, 
you  have,"  remarked  Her  Majesty  ;  "  you  have 
omitted  one — the  young  lady  who  happens  to  be 
my  god-daughter  !  " 

Few,  if  any,  ladies  could  claim  closer  acquaint- 
ance with  King  Edward  than  Miss  Agnes  and  Miss 
Fanny  Keyser,  the  good  Samaritans  who,  in  1900, 
converted  their  beautiful  home,  17  Grosvenor 


238        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

Crescent,  into  a  private  hospital  for  officers  who 
had  been  wounded  in  the  Boer  war.  These 
gallant  soldiers  found  themselves  in  a  paradise, 
which  they  quitted  with  heart-felt  gratitude 
and  regret.  King  Edward  was  precisely  the  man 
to  appreciate  this  patriotism,  and  was  never 
happier  than  when  he  was  visiting  No.  17.  He 
delighted  in  the  "  intimate  "  dinner  and  supper 
parties  arranged  for  him  by  his  charming  hostesses, 
whose  cook  was  second  to  none.  I  should  be 
tempted  to  say  much  in  praise  of  the  charming 
sisters  and  the  King's  exceptional  liking  for  them, 
were  they  not  known  to  shun  publicity,  even  to 
dread  it.  One  of  the  first  of  the  heroes  to  find 
a  blissful  refuge  in  ie  King  Edward's  military 
hospital  "  was,  I  remember,  Major  Dashwood,  of 
the  Dublin  Fusiliers,  through  whose  body  a  Boer 
bullet  passed  within  an  inch  of  the  spinal  cord. 

One  of  King  Edward's  cronies  was  Colonel 
John  Ross  Farquharson  of  Invercauld,  as  familiar 
a  figure  in  Pall  Mall  as  the  Prince  himself  until 
his  death  in  1888.  A  few  days  before,  "  Jim  " 
Farquharson,  as  everybody  called  him,  was  at  his 
clubs,  active  and  cheery,  looking  as  if  he  would  live 
to  a  great  age.  Besides  being  a  foremost  member 
of  the  Marlborough  House  clan  he  was  one  of 
Queen  Victoria's  favourites,  as  was  another  of  the 
then  Prince's  intimates,  Major  Jim  Macdonald, 
who  died  in  1882.  The  Major,  whom  I  often  met 
at  the  house  of  some  friends,  was  the  closest  com- 
panion of  the  Duke  of  Cambridge,  who  wrote  of 
his  death  that  it  was  "  a  severe  blow  after  a 


KING  EDWARD  IN  STORY  239 

friendship  of  close  upon  thirty- eight  years  on  my 
personal  staff.  .  .  .  My  dear  old  friend  Bernal 
Osborne  "  (father  of  the  present  widowed  Duchess 
of  St.  Albans)  "  died  on  the  very  same  day." x 
Colonel  Farquharson  and  Major  Macdonald  were 
noted  raconteurs,  and  knew  everything  that  was 
going  on ;  the  latter  was  particularly  expansive, 
and  required  no  "  tapping."  Without  "  listening 
at  the  door,"  as  Lord  Rosslyn  stupidly  accused 
Charles  Greville  of  doing,  I  heard  many  of  his 
bons  mots,  and  kept  them  to  myself.  The 
Duke  and  his  "  dear  old  Jim  "  were  like  brothers, 
and  dragooning  "  George "  never  "  got  into  a 
sweat  "  with  his  faithful  henchman,  whose  manner 
and  white  locks  were  equally  silky.  The  Duke 
had  such  an  exalted  opinion  of  himself  as  "  C.-in-C." 
that  he  frequently  indulged  in  "  langwidge  "  which 
was  bitterly,  and  not  always  silently,  resented. 
The  slightest  criticism  in  the  papers  upset  him, 
and  on  one  occasion,  speaking  in  the  House  of 
Lords,  after  the  appearance  of  some  wounding 
remarks  in  the  "  Daily  Telegraph,"  he  gave  it 
to  his  presumptuous  critic  "  straight  from  the 
shoulder,"  and  sat  down  feeling  much  better. 
Archibald  Forbes  was  a  thorn  in  the  Duke's  side  ; 
and,  in  a  manner  of  speaking,  Prince  George  had 
rather  a  contempt  for  the  Press  generally.  Queen 
Victoria  knew  how  to  smooth  her  impetuous 
cousin  down  after  the  papers  had  been  pin-pricking 

1  "  George,  Duke  of  Cambridge."  Edited  by  the  Rev.  Edgar 
Sheppard,  C.V.O.,  D.D.,  Sub-Dean  of  His  Majesty's  Chapels  Royal. 
Longmans. 


240        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

him,  and  "  Jim  "  was  always  at  hand  to  apply 
ointment  to  the  sore.  Those  who  went  about  with 
notebooks  in  their  hands  at  reviews  and  parades 
took  particular  care  to  give  the  fiery  "  C.-in-C."  a 
wide  berth.  Yet  he  could  be  the  tenderest- 
hearted  and  most  sentimental  of  men,  as  his 
delightfully  explicit  and  racy  "  Diary "  amply 
proves.  He  loved  all  his  Royal  relatives  ;  after 
the  Queen,  "  Bertie  "  and  Alex  "  were  the  objects 
of  his  unceasing  adoration.  Other  men  in  the 
good  books  of  the  Prince  of  Wales  (but  there  were 
so  many  !)  were  Colonel  "  Harry  "  Armytage  and 
Lieut. -General  Sir  Seymour  Blane  ;  the  first  a 
tall,  stalwart,  pleasantly-bluff,  handsome  man, 
liking  good  cheer — the  second  a  tall,  slightly-built, 
perfect-mannered  old  soldier,  very  proud  of  his 
"  C.B."  and  of  the  walking-stick  given  him  by 
the  Prince.  Sir  Seymour,  one  of  the  oldest  and 
best-liked  members  of  "  White's,"  had  concerned 
himself  in  companies,  one  of  them  being  started 
for  the  production  of  concentrated  beer. 

Even  Mme.  Steinheil  can  boast  of  some  ac- 
quaintance with  our  late  Sovereign.  She  says  in 
her  "  Memoirs  "r1 

I  met  King  Edward,  then  Prince  of  Wales, 
several  times.  He  asked  me  one  day,  quite  un- 
expectedly, what  I  thought  of  his  French.  '  Your 
Highness,"  I  replied,  "  speaks  our  language  un- 
usually well."  if  For  one  who  is  not  French  ?  " 
''  For  one  who  is  not  always  in  France.  But 
perhaps  your  Highness  speaks  it  too  grammatic- 

1  Eveleigh  Nash,  1912. 


KING  EDWARD  IN  STORY  241 

ally."      "  I    see,"    said    the    Prince    cheerfully ; 
!t  my  French  is  too  perfect  to  be — perfect." 

Of  that  intimate  friend  of  King  Edward,  Lord 
Dupplin,  who  died  in  1886,  this  story  was  told  by 
Mr.  Labouchere,  in  "  Truth,"  which  still  occupies 
the  foremost  place  in  that  social  journalism  of 
which  the  "Times"  is  so  fond.  "'Duppy'  was 
cheery  and  good-natured.  I  remember  some  years 
ago  coming  across  him  in  Westminster  Hall. 
'  What  are  you  doing  here  ?  '  I  asked.  '  Well,'  he 
said,  '  I  am  a  "  co  "  in  a  divorce  suit,  and  I  am 
going  to  be  called  as  a  witness.'  '  Is  the  charge 
true  ?  '  I  asked.  '  That,'  he  replied,  '  is  my  diffi- 
culty. I  really  cannot  remember  whether  it  is 
true  or  not.'  I  felt  utterly  dumbfounded  at  this 
magnificent  forgetfulness." 

Until  his  death  in  1911  Lord  James  of  Hereford 
—the  "  Henry  James  "  of  the  Law  Courts  and  the 
House  of  Commons — was  not  only  a  close  friend, 
but  a  valued  adviser,  of  King  Edward.  Occasion- 
ally the  King,  when  he  was  still  Heir-Apparent, 
drove  from  Sandringham  to  Westacre,  sometimes 
accompanied  by  our  present  Sovereign  and  "  Fife," 
for  a  day's,  or  two  or  three  days',  shooting  with 
Lord  (then  Sir  Henry)  James.  At  Westacre  they 
would  meet  the  Duke  of  Cambridge,  the  Duke  of 
St.  Albans,  and  Mr.  Mackenzie  of  Kintail ;  and 
even  then  the  future  George  v.  was  accounted  about 
the  best  with  the  gun. 

There  was  the  closest  friendship  between  King 
Edward  and  Sir  Frederick  Johnstone,  dating  from 

16 


242        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

4 
their  Oxford  days.     Before  me  is  one  of  Russell's 

photographs,  taken  at  Goodwood  in  1868,  showing 
the  Prince  and  "  Freddy  "  Johnstone  seated  on  a 
bench  and  Oliver  Montagu  and  Arthur  Ellis  stand- 
ing behind  them.  At  his  friend's  villa,  Le  Nid,  at 
Monte  Carlo,  the  Prince  often  stayed.  Sport  was 
one  of  the  ties  between  the  two.  Sir  Frederick 
won  two  and  the  King  three  Derby s.  The  baronet 
had  latterly  lived  at  The  Hatch,  near  Windsor, 
and  there  he  had  been  regularly  visited  by  the 
King  every  Saturday  in  Ascot  week.  At  The 
Hatch  he  died  (June  20,  1913)  as  the  last  race  was 
being  run  at  Ascot.  Sir  Frederick  was  probably 
better  acquainted  with  the  vie  intime  of  the  King 
before  his  accession  than  any  one  else  now  sur- 
viving (Lord  Dupplin  having  died  many  years  ago). 
He  was  one  of  Lady  Mordaunt's  numerous  friends, 
and  figured  in  the  "  case." 

One  of  the  few  men  who  had  much  influence 
with  King  Edward  prior  to  his  accession  was  the 
late  Duke  of  Richmond,  who  was  as  fond  of 
"  flanning "  as  Mr.  Gladstone,  although,  unlike 
"  Mr.  G.,"  he  did  not  beguile  his  solitary  rambles 
through  the  streets  by  peering  into  the  bookshops. 
The  Duke  had  a  great  antipathy  to  card-playing 
and  all  other  forms  of  gambling,  and  on  one  occa- 
sion, when  the  Tranby  Croft  affair  was  fresh  in  the 
public  mind,  his  Grace  did  not  scruple  to  say  to 
the  Prince,  "  You  can  do  as  you  like,  Sir,  when  you 
are  under  my  roof  ;  but  no  baccarat ! 5: 

With  "the  Dudleys"  (the  parents  of  the 
present  Earl)  the  King  was  particularly  friendly, 


KING  EDWARD  IN  STORY  243 

often  visiting  Witley  Court,  their  Worcestershire 
home.  It  is  rather  more  than  an  hour's  drive 
from  the  old  county  town,  the  seat  of  the  glove, 
sauce,  pickle,  vinegar,  and  "  British  wine  "  trades ; 
the  "  Faithful  City,"  which  the  Royalists  defended 
so  stoutly,  and  which  the  "  crop-ear'd  rogues  " 
successfully  besieged.  The  "  Court "  stands  on 
high  ground,  and  commands  glorious  views  over 
Worcestershire  and  Shropshire.  Like  many 
palaces,  it  is  an  exceedingly  plain  structure,  and 
externally  anything  but  architecturally  beautiful ; 
within,  you  are  confronted  by  the  most  magnifi- 
cent specimens  of  art  in  all  its  branches  that 
money  can  buy  and  a  dogged  perseverance  obtain 
—pictures,  statuary,  and  objets  d'art  of  every 
description,  for  the  late  Earl  was  a  connoisseur  of 
connoisseurs,  and  spent  some  of  the  best  years 
of  his  life  in  the  congenial  occupation  of  collecting. 
The  present  Dowager  Countess  and  the  late  Earl 
were  great  archers  in  the  years  that  are  gone,  and 
Witley  Court  was  the  scene  of  large  gatherings  of 
Midland  toxophilites — the  Isaacses,  the  Martins, 
the  Allsopps,  and  many  more.  The  contests  on 
the  greensward  used  to  be  followed  by  what  some 
would  call  a  "  collation  "  ;  the  right  title  for  it, 
however,  was  a  "  square  meal,"  which,  at  the 
autumn  gathering,  took  the  form  of  ham  and  broad 
beans — anyway,  that  was  the  principal  dish. 

Few  men  were  more  eccentric  than  the  present 
Lord  Dudley's  grandfather.  He  had  a  curious 
way  of  wearing  his  hair  very  long,  so  that  it  looked 
like  a  wig,  and  gave  rise  to  a  stupid  story  that  he 


244        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

had  had  his  ears  cut  off  by  an  irate  Pasha  as  a 
punishment  for  attempting  to  penetrate  into  the 
interior  of  a  harem.  He  was  very  absent-minded, 
and  there  are  numerous  stories  of  the  curious 
results  which  sprang  from  this  failing.  He  was 
dining  with  Queen  Victoria.  A  choice  dish  was 
handed  round,  to  which  Lord  Dudley  helped  him- 
self, and,  finding  it  much  to  his  liking,  he  thought 
it  his  duty  to  tell  his  neighbour  of  it.  So,  forgetting 
where  he  was,  and  all  about  the  etiquette  of  the 
Palace,  he  turned  to  the  Queen,  and  said,  "  You 
really  ought  to  take  some  of  this ;  it  is  most 
excellent."  The  Queen  smiled  and  thanked  him. 
A  minute  afterwards  the  same  thought  came  into 
his  head,  and  again  he  strongly  urged  the  Queen 
to  "  have  some,"  with  the  same  result.  After 
another  short  interval,  for  the  third  time  he  pressed 
the  merits  of  the  dish  upon  the  Queen,  who  then 
replied,  "  I  am  very  glad  you  like  it,  Lord  Dudley. 
It  must  be  very  good,  for  this  is  the  third  time  you 
have  told  me  of  it."  Then,  remembering  that,  but 
forgetting  everything  else,  he  exclaimed,  loud 

enough  to  be  heard  all  over  the  table,  "  D the 

woman,  so  it  is  !  J: 

King  Edward,  who  so  highly  appreciated  esprit, 
even  when,  as  sometimes  happened,  the  joke  went 
against  himself,  was  once  very  neatly  "  scored 
off  "  by  a  lady  whom  later  he  deservedly  esteemed 
for  her  many  good  works.  She  had  been  just 
presented  to  him,  and  was  somewhat  nervous. 
To  put  her  at  her  ease  His  Majesty  said,  "  Oh, 
Miss  ,  I  want  to  have  a  long  chat  with  yoi 


KING  EDWARD  IN  STORY  245 

but  if  I  should  unfortunately  bore  you  pray  tell 
me  so."  The  King,  who  was  an  adroit  cross- 
examiner,  wished  to  ascertain  the  young  lady's 
age,  which  she  had  no  intention  of  divulging. 

"  You  have  already  said  you  were  born  at ," 

said  the  Monarch.  "  May  I  ask  in  what  year  ?  " 
'  You  '  bore  '  me,  sir  !  "  was  the  smiling  reply, 
and  His  Majesty,  taking  the  checkmate  in  the 
greatest  good  humour,  diverted  the  conversation 
into  a  less  embarrassing  channel.  The  particular 
form  of  esprit  most  appreciated  by  the  King  was, 
I  imagine,  that  embodied  in  the  cynically-amusing 
saying  of  Harriet  Lady  Ashburton  :  "  If  I  were 
to  begin  life  again  I  would  go  on  the  turf  to  get 
friends.  They  seem  to  me  the  only  people  who 
really  hold  close  together.  I  don't  know  why  ; 
it  may  be  that  each  knows  something  that  might 
hang  the  other,  but  the  effect  is  delightful  and 
most  peculiar." 

Similarly  Lady  Waldegrave's  incisive  dicta 
on  card-sharping  could  not  fail  to  have  found  a 
responsive  echo  when  they  came  to  the  King's 
knowledge  :  "  One  can  pardon  a  man  almost 
anything  save  cheating  at  cards.  In  most  cases, 
when  a  man  decides  on  committing  a  crime  he 
is  inspired  with  some  of  the  dare-devil  bravery 
which  is  bred  of  despair,  and  is  ready  to  risk  his 
neck  or  his  liberty  ;  whereas  when  a  man  cheats 
at  cards  he  robs  his  friends,  and  is  well  aware  that 
he  will  never  be  prosecuted,  exile  and  ostracism 
being  the  worst  penalties  he  has  any  reason  to 
fear."  With  this  kind  of  esprit  many  other 


246       MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

Englishwomen  are  endowed,  although  we  seldom 
see  it  recorded  in  print.  King  Edward  could  have 
given  examples  of  it,  but  they  will  not  appear 
in  the  "  official  "  biography. 

In  the  eighties  there  was  a  rage  for  banjo- 
strumming,  the  result  of  the  Prince  of  Wales 
receiving  a  few  lessons  from  the  Bohee  Brothers, 
one  of  whom  admitted  that  H.R.H.  was  not  among 
his  cleverest  pupils.  Mr.  Bohee  asserted  that  the 
best  ban  joists  were  those  with  thin,  even  scraggy, 
fingers.  Mr.  Gladstone  was  a  very  fine  performer  ; 
his  singing  of  "  Camptown  Races,"  to  his  own 
accompaniment,  was,  if  not  a  "  thing  of  beauty," 
certainly  "  a  joy  for  ever,"  to  those  who  heard  it, 
the  Prince  among  many  others. 

On  a  racecourse.  The  King  passes.  Old 
orange- woman,  loq. :  "  Buy  an  orange,  Teddy  ! 
Two  a  penny.  All  sweet  and  juicy." 

In  the  late  seventies  and  the  early  eighties 
there  was  to  be  seen  in  the  St.  James's  quarter  a 
man  who  strongly  resembled  the  Prince  of  Wales. 
He  was  of  similar  height,  walked  exactly  like 
H.R.H.,  and  wore  his  hat  at  the  same  slight  angle. 
A  well-known  member  of  the  Stock  Exchange- 
Mr.  Percy  Marsden — is  (incorrectly)  supposed  to 
be  the  "  double  "  of  King  Edward,  and  for  many 
years  has  been  jocularly  referred  to  by  his  City 
friends  as  "His  Majesty."  Somewhat  resembling 
King  Edward  was  Lord  Glenesk,  whose  walk, 
however,  was  more  springy  than  the  King's.  I 
have  often  seen  the  King's  walk  described  in  print 
as  a  "roll."  Nothing  could  be  more  inaccurate. 


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KING  EDWARD  IN  STORY  247 

King  Edward's  was  a  deliberate  stride,  not  unlike 
that  of  a  cavalry  officer ;  it  was  so  deliberate, 
without  being  actually  slow,  that,  when  he  was 
passing  between  two  rows  of  men,  he  could  shake 
hands  and  say  a  word  or  two  to  his  particular 
friends  without  stopping.  The  late  Sir  Charles 
Legard,  Bt.,  M.P.  for  Scarborough,  was  the  sosie  of 
King  Edward,  and  the  two  were  often  mistaken 
even  by  those  who  knew  them  best.  Sir  Charles 
was  for  a  long  period  on  intimate  terms  with  His 
Majesty. 

The  veteran  actor,  M.  Frederic  Febvre,  so 
long  a  member  of  the  Comedie  Fran£aise,  who 
happened  to  be  appearing  in  London  in  Jun6 
1879,  was  the  first  Frenchman  to  hear  of  the 
Prince  Imperial's  death.  "  That  evening,"  he 
says,  "  after  our  performance  at  the  theatre,  we 
were  acting  at  the  house  of  Lady  W.  When  I 
arrived  she  came  up  to  me  and  told  me  that  the 
Prince  of  Wales  had  asked  for  me  twice.  I  met 
His  Royal  Highness  behind  a  long  row  of  screens, 
which  served  as  a  passage  for  the  artists  to  reach 
the  improvised  stage.  The  Prince  was  holding  a 
yellowish  paper,  which  I  can  still  see.  c  This  is 
sad  and  painful  news,  dear  Monsieur  Febvre,'  he 
said.  c  The  Prince  Imperial  is  dead.5  And  as  I 
still  hoped  that  this  misfortune  could  not  have 
happened,  he  added  :  c  The  despatch  is  official.' 
On  the  following  day  this  intelligence  was  con- 
firmed by  all  the  newspapers.  I  confess  that  I 
should  have  left  if  the  Royal  Family  had  not  been 
at  the  performance.  But  I  had  to  stay  and  put 


248        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

the  best  face  that  I  could  on  it.     Never  had  an 
evening  seemed  so  long." 

King  Edward  was  not  a  witness  of  the  scene 
at  Windsor  Castle  which  I  am  about  to  briefly 
describe  ;  but  he  could  not  fail  to  have  heard  the 
facts  from  some  of  those  who  were  present,  of 
whom  my  informant  was  one.  Shortly  after  the 
death  of  the  son  of  Napoleon  in.  and  the  Empress 
Eugenie,  Her  Imperial  Majesty  commissioned 
Richard  Belt  to  execute  a  bust  of  the  Prince. 
The  work  was  completed  at  Camden  Place,  Chisle- 
hurst,  under  the  Empress's  supervision.  As 
Queen  Victoria  expressed  a  desire  to  see  the  bust 
the  sculptor  took  it  to  Windsor.  The  Queen 
examined  it  very  closely,  and  then  gave  her 
opinion  of  it,  which  was  favourable  with  a  reserva- 
tion, although  the  Empress  had  found  it  perfect. 
"  There  is  one  point  in  the  mouth  which  is  not 
accurate,"  said  the  Queen ;  "I  will  show  you 
what  I  mean  if  some  one  will  bring  me  a  gentleman's 
hat."  A  hat  was  brought  into  the  room,  and  the 
Queen  placed  it  on  her  head,  remarking  :  "  When 
the  Prince  Imperial  bowed  to  a  lady  he  raised  his 
hat  in  this  way,  and  parted  his  lips  like  this." 
The  Queen  spoke  and  acted  her  part  with  the 
greatest  composure,  to  the  amazement  of  Lady 
Churchill  and  the  other  members  of  the  suite 
who  formed  the  audience,  and  who  dared  not 
glance  at  each  other  lest  they  might  be  betrayed 
into  a  smile.  It  was  none  the  less  an  ordeal,  and 
there  was  a  general  feeling  of  relief  when  the  Queen 
handed  the  hat  to  the  personage  nearest  to  her 


KING  EDWARD  IN  STORY  249 

and  said  to  the  sculptor  :  "  There,  Mr.  Belt,  that 
is  how  the  Prince  Imperial  looked."  The  artist 
expressed  his  gratitude  to  Her  Majesty,  undertook 
to  correct  the  bust  in  accordance  with  the 
Queen's  suggestion,  and  retired,  not  the  least 
surprised  of  the  party. 

Before  the  bust  was  taken  to  Windsor  for  the 
Queen's  inspection  there  had  been  a  very  dramatic 
and  painful  scene  at  Camden  Place.  Describing 
to  the  Empress  how  he  thought  one  of  the  Zulus' 
assegais  had  struck  the  Prince,  the  sculptor, 
chisel  in  hand,  made  a  lunge  towards  the  bust. 
The  Empress  had  previously  discussed  the  details 
of  the  tragedy  without  any  particular  excitement, 
but  the  sculptor's  realism  proved  too  much  for  her 
feelings,  and,  with  a  wailing  cry,  she  fell  to  the 
floor  in  a  dead  faint. 

Among  the  pictures  in  King  George's  collection 
is  "  La  Derniere  Halte,"  from  the  brush  of  Oliver 
Pichat.  It  represents  the  Prince  Imperial  on  the 
fatal  reconnaissance  in  Zululand  with  Lieutenant 
Carey  and  a  handful  of  our  troopers  on  the  1st  of 
June  1879.  King  Edward  purchased  the  picture 
in  that  year  for  £400.  Pichat  also  painted  a  fine 
picture  of  Napoleon  in.  on  horseback,  braving  the 
enemy's  fire  at  Sedan,  the  artist's  chivalrous  object 
being  to  counteract  the  effect  of  a  fantastic  and 
malevolent  canvas  representing  the  defeated  Em- 
peror riding  in  his  carriage  over  the  wounded  and 
dead.  Another  large  work  by  the  same  artist 
depicts  the  Emperor  and  the  Empress  Eugenie 
in  the  grounds  of  Camden  Place,  Chislehurst. 


250       MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

This  picture  is  in  the  possession  of  the  Vicomte 
de  la  Chapelle,  son  of  the  Emperor's  valued  friend 
and  collaborator,  who  re-established  the  finances  of 
the  august  exile  on  his  arrival  in  England  from  his 
"  prison  "  at  Wilhelmshohe  in  March  1871. 

When  King  Edward  died,  M.  Pichat,  who  was 
then  over  eighty,  said  to  a  friend — 

66  Yes,  I  loved  him,  and  I  deeply  regret  him.  He 
was  always  so  very  kind  to  me.  I  met  him  for  the 
first  time  at  Jerusalem,  when  he  was  very  young. 
I  was  studying  there,  and  he  was  my  protector. 
Later  on  I  made  a  panorama  in  London  of  the 
battle  of  Tel-el-Kebir,  and  it  was  he  who  came  to 
open  it."  "  But  you  also  did  his  '  Entry  into  Paris 
with  M.  Loubet,'  : '  his  friend  remarked.  :(  Cer- 
tainly," was  the  reply  ;  "and  afterwards,  when  I 
was  painting  the  portrait  of  the  Duke  of  Connaught 
on  horseback  at  St.  James's  Palace,  the  King  had 
the  picture  of  his  entry  into  Paris  brought  to 
me  at  Buckingham  Palace.  As  it  was  a  Levee 
day  he  came  up  to  me  before  all  the  generals  to 
shake  hands  and  congratulate  me  and  tell  me  that 
he  wished  to  have  it.  '  It  is  a  Parisian  souvenir,' 
he  said,  '  and  I  shall  keep  it.'  "  And  M.  Pichat 
added  sadly  :  "  He  has  died  too  soon.  He  really 
loved  Paris  and  France.  This  he  proved  very 
often,  and  especially  to  me." 

Comparatively  few  Frenchmen  have  been 
decorated  by  our  Sovereigns  ;  but  King  Edward 
conferred  the  Victorian  Order  upon  General 
Gebhart,  General  Hagron,  Vice  -  Amiral  de 
Maigret,  M.  Saint-Saens,  M.  Crozier,  Comte  du 
Pontavice  de  Heussey,  the  Marquis  de  Breteuil, 


KING  EDWARD  IN  STORY  251 

the  Marquis  du  Lau,  M.  d'Epinay,  M.  Derville, 
M.  Chapuy,  Colonel  Chabaud,  General  de  Negrier, 
M.  Detaille,  and  M.  Flameng,  the  two  last  named 
being  the  French  artists  for  whom  (together  with 
M.  Pichat)  the  King  had  the  highest  esteem. 

M.  Febvre,  the  French  actor  previously  men- 
tioned, narrated  the  following  episodes  on  the 
day  after  His  Majesty's  death  : — 

One  evening,  in  the  foyer  of  the  Comedie 
Frangaise,  as  the  then  Prince  of  Wales  was  talking 
to  Sarah  Bernhardt,  Croizette,  and  myself,  while 
his  friends  stood  not  far  from  us,  I  was  surprised 
at  seeing  a  man  come  up  to  the  Prince  and  ask  him, 
with  incredible  impertinence,  what  he  thought  of 
the  play.  Without  showing  the  slightest  surprise, 
the  Prince  turned  to  him  and  answered  with  a 
gracious  smile  :  ''  I  do  not  think  I  have  spoken 
to  you." 

When  the  Prince  of  Wales  was  so  good  as  to 
applaud  me  at  the  Royalty  Theatre,  and  when  I 
apologised  for  receiving  him  under  conditions  so 
inappropriate,  he  replied,  with  a  kindly  smile  : 
'  That  does  not  matter,  my  dear  Febvre,  you  will 
make  up  for  it  in  the  Rue  Richelieu."  Then,  a 
few  days  after  my  retirement,  the  Comedie  started 
for  London  to  give  a  series  of  performances  at 
Drury  Lane,  under  the  direction  of  M.  Grau  and 
Sir  Augustus  Harris.  On  July  1,  when  I  no  longer 
belonged  to  the  Theatre  Francais,  the  Prince  of 
Wales  had  the  goodness  to  grant  me  a  private 
audience,  during  which  his  Royal  Highness  gave 
me  a  very  valuable  souvenir. 

When  I  perceived  the  Prince  taking  his  morning 
ride  in  Hyde  Park,  I  did  my  utmost  to  escape  his 
notice,  but  if  he  saw  me  he  would,  with  his  wonted 


252        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

graciousness,  come  up  to  me  and  hold  out  his 
hand,  after  having  bowed  to  Madame  Febvre. 
If  some  lounger  asked  who  was  the  gentleman 
whom  His  Royal  Highness  deigned  thus  to  honour, 
there  ought  to  have  been  some  one  to  reply,  "  That 
gentleman  is  the  one  who  has  the  stick "  [an 
allusion  to  a  present  made  some  time  before  by  the 
Prince]. 

His  Royal  Highness,  of  whom  I  retain  a  grateful 
memory,  always  honoured  me  with  peculiar  kind- 
ness, which  rendered  me  his  respectful  servant, 
but  nothing  authorised  me  to  make  any  pretension 
to  such  a  title  as  a  friend.  I  loved  the  Prince  of 
Wales  for  his  kindness,  his  courteous  simplicity, 
and  I  am  proud  that  I  have  not  been  a  stranger 
to  the  admirable  Sovereign  whom  I  mourn  from 
the  bottom  of  my  heart. 

In  May  1910,  members  of  the  Paris  clubs, 
several  of  which  King  Edward  joined  thirty  years 
before  his  accession,  had  much  to  tell  about  him. 
A  member  of  the  ' '  Jockey  "  said  as  Prince  of  Wales 
he  was  often  at  the  Club.  He  looked  in  usually 
about  six  o'clock,  sat  in  the  smoking-room,  talked 
little,  but  listened  attentively,  and  sometimes 
laughed  heartily.  The  only  occasion  on  which  the 
Prince  played  a  game  of  cards  there  was  one  evening 
after  dinner.  He  was  never  there  at  night.  He 
could  not  have  lunched  or  dined  five  times  at  one 
of  the  "  crack  "  clubs  in  thirty-five  years.  He 
liked  to  stroll  about,  and  to  spend  his  evenings  at 
the  theatre.  Sometimes  he  would  accept  an 
invitation  to  a  shooting  party  from  the  Due  de  la 
Tremoille  at  Rambouillet  or  from  the  Marquis 


KING  EDWARD  IN  STORY  253 

d'Harcourt  at  Presles,  and  sometimes  he  went  to  the 
races.  He  was  a  capital  shot,  as  can  be  said  with- 
out any  flattery.  At  the  Jockey  Club  the  Prince 
one  day  declared  that  the  English  game  of  billiards 
was  far  superior  to  the  French  one,  which  consists 
exclusively  of  cannons.  He  considered  the  French 
game  too  limited  and  "  quite  uninteresting,"  and 
said  he  would  be  glad  to  see  his  friends  at  Marl- 
borough  House  and  show  them  "  a  fine  game  on  a 
good  English  table."  The  Prince  had  a  wonderful 
memory.  At  the  races  he  would  recognise  with  a 
kindly  smile  some  sportsman  who  had  been  pre- 
sented to  him  several  weeks  before,  and  whom  he 
had  not  met  since,  and  this  courtesy  enhanced  his 
popularity.  Naturally  there  was  a  change  in  the 
programme  of  his  visits  to  Paris  after  he  became 
King.  He  could  spend  only  a  few  days  there,  and 
he  had  not  much  time  to  spare  for  amusements. 
The  last  dinner-party  in  France  which  King 
Edward  honoured  with  his  presence  was  given  by 
Madame  Waddington,  the  widow  of  the  distin- 
guished statesman  who  had  been  Ambassador  in 
London  ;  and  the  last  play  he  saw  in  Paris  was 
!<  Chantecler  "  ;  and  it  was  then,  in  March  1910, 
that  he  caught  a  cold  which  caused  him  much 
suffering,  and  made  him  more  seriously  ill  when 
he  reached  Biarritz  than  people  at  home  had 
imagined.  Just  two  months  later  and  we  were 
mourning  his  death. 

King  Edward  regarded  as  devoted  friends  the 
late  Mr.  Kanne,  Director  of  Queen  Victoria's 
Continental  Journeys,  and  Monsieur  Xavier  Paoli, 


254       MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

"  Protector  of  Sovereigns "  ;  and  when  Kanne 
passed  away,  after  a  short  illness,  the  then  Prince 
of  Wales  attended  his  funeral.  In  a  biographical 
work  of  not  very  ancient  date  M.  Paoli  is  termed 
"  a  detective  courier  "  ;  which  may  be  symbolically 
just,  but  not  precisely  accurate  as  applied  to  a 
man  whom  the  King  often  took  into  his  con- 
fidence and  treated  with  the  greatest  friendliness, 
as  narrated  by  Paoli  in  his  entertaining  and  in- 
structive volume,  "  Leurs  Majestes." l  Queen 
Victoria  used  to  talk  to  this  well-educated  and 
spiritual  Frenchman  as  freely  as  to  one  of  her 
own  children  ;  his  only  trouble  was  Her  Majesty's 
lavish  money  gifts  to  all  and  sundry.  King 
Edward  was  not  too  proud  to  learn,  even  from  a 
"  detective  courier."  He  might  have  said  with 
Montaigne  and  Moliere,  "  Je  prends  mon  bien  ou 
je  le  trouve."  Paoli  had  been  made  much  of  by 
the  late  King  of  the  Hellenes,  King  Alfonso,  a 
Shah,  the  Queen  of  Holland  and  her  mother,  the 
present  Tsar,  and  the  Empress  Eugenie — not  to 
mention  Grand  Dukes,  Princes  and  Princesses,  and 
other  "  best  of  world  " — and  our  King  enjoyed 
the  "Protector's"  society  and  relished  his  appetis- 
ing bons  mots.  King  Edward,  like  so  many  of  his 
lieges,  appreciated  the  company  of  all  who  could 
tell  him  "  good  things  " — Kanne  and  Paoli,  for 
example,  whose  combined  stock  of  stories  would 
have  filled  a  volume.  Queen  Alexandra  was 
equally  gracious  to  the  "  Protector,"  who  once 
acted  as  her  postman.  The  Queen  had  been 

1  Paris  :  P.  Ollendorff. 


KING  EDWARD  IN  STORY  255 

escorted  by  him  some  distance ;  the  Queen  of 
Norway  was  in,  or  about  to  arrive  in,  Paris.  "  M. 
Paoli,"  said  Queen  Alexandra,  "  will  you,  with 
your  own  hand,  give  this  letter  to  my  daughter 
directly  you  reach  Paris  ?  "  Paoli  was,  of  course, 
"  enchanted  "  ;  "  it  is  a  great  honour  to  be  ap- 
pointed, although  only  temporarily,  Her  Majesty's 
postman.  The  letter  shall  be  placed  in  the  hands 
of  the  gracious  daughter  of  Her  Majesty  the  Queen 
within  a  quarter  of  an  hour  after  the  arrival  in 
Paris  of  Her  Majesty's  most  humble  servant."  The 
letter  was  duly  delivered  to  "  my  daughter,"  and 
Paoli  was  rewarded  by  the  smiling  thanks  of  "  the 
most  beautiful  woman  in  the  world — all  but  one." 
Since  then  M.  Paoli  has  amused  King  George 
and  Queen  Mary  (as  Prince  and  Princess)  by  his 
sprightly  talk,  and  was  amused  in  turn  by  the  witty 
conversation  of  the  august  pair. 

Now  that  the  name  of  Xavier  Paoli,  the  former 
c  Protector  of  Sovereigns,"  is  so  well  known  in 
this  country,  I  may  note  the  (to  me  very  gratifying) 
fact  that  I  introduced  him  to  the  English  public 
through  the  medium  of  the  "  Pall  Mall  Gazette  " 
some  four  or  five  years  ago,  prior  to  which  he  was 
an  unknown  quantity  except  to  the  Royal  entour- 
age. Monsieur  Paoli's  chapter  (in  "  Leurs 
Majestes  ")  on  Queen  Victoria  and  some  of  the 
members  of  her  family — Edward  vn.  included — 
was  revised  by  King  Edward,  who  went  through 
the  proof-sheets  with  all  the  carefulness  of  a 
printer's  "  reader."  (It  was  said  that  Princess 
Henry  of  Battenberg  also  acted  as  reviser  of  that 


256       MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

particular  chapter ;  but  Paoli  is  silent  on  this 
point.)  Queen  Victoria,  whom  Paoli  guarded 
during  her  numerous  visits  to  France,  highly 
appreciated  his  attentions,  and  chatted  with  him 
more  unreservedly  than  with  most  people.  In  the 
volume  of  reminiscences  "  Leurs  Majestes,"  which 
was  issued  in  French  and  in  English  x  in  1912,  there 
is  much  which  will  be  read  with  delighted  surprise. 
The  book  is  essentially  one  of  indiscretions,  using 
the  phrase  in  its  proper  French  signification.  The 
word  frightens  many  English  people  ignorant  of 
the  nuances  of  the  French  language,  for  they  fancy 
that  a  literary  indiscretion  must  perforce  mean 
something  very  "  indiscreet  " — something  almost, 
if  not  quite,  wicked  ;  at  all  events,  wholly  lacking 
in  discreetness. 

Paoli  is  happy  in  the  reflection  that  all  the 
Sovereigns  around  whom  he  threw  his  protecting 
arm  treated  him  in  a  friendly  fashion,  so  that  his 
existence  was  a  particularly  pleasant  one.  He  is 
not  the  man  to  "  faire  le  bas  valet  "  ;  for  he  is  par- 
ticularly well-educated  and  endowed  with  charm- 
ing manners.  The  late  King  of  the  Hellenes  held 
him  in  high  esteem,  and  often  invited  the  agreeable 
Corsican  to  dine  at  the  Royal  table.  When  King 
George  of  Greece  was  making  his  annual  cure  at 
Aix-les-Bains,  M.  Paoli  was  always  in  attendance 
on  His  Majesty.  The  King,  however,  gave  his 
guard  plenty  of  time  to  himself,  partly,  probably, 
because  the  father-in-law  of  Princesse  Marie  Bona- 
parte did  not  appreciate  a  too  close  surveillance. 

1  London :  Hutchinson. 


KING  EDWARD  IN  STORY  257 

Paoli  was  thus  enabled  to  play  his  favourite  role  of 
montagnard  ;  and  one  day  he  distinguished  him- 
self by  making  the  ascent  of  Mont  Renard — a 
climb  of  over  six  miles — without  a  halt.  This  was 
something  of  a  record,  and  at  dinner  that  evening 
King  George  warmly  congratulated  him  upon  the 
feat,  as  well  as  upon  his  robust  health.  "  Why, 
Monsieur  Paoli,"  said  His  Majesty  jocularly,  "  you 
are  really  the  reclame  vivante  of  Vin  Mariani," 
a  beverage  for  which  the  famous  commissaire  (now 
enjoying  his  otium  cum  dig.)  has  a  pronounced 
predilection. 

An  extraordinary  story,  in  which  M.  Dosse, 
as  Royal  Courier  of  the  period,  figures,  is  related  by 
M.  Paoli,  in  "  Leurs  Majestes."  One  afternoon, 
when  Queen  Victoria  was  recuperating  at  Cimiez 
(Nice),  M.  Paoli,  who  was  then  "  Protector  of 
Sovereigns,"  found  the  company  of  infantry, 
which  had  been  sent  by  the  French  Government 
in  honour  of  the  Queen,  drawn  up  in  the  grounds, 
under  arms.  Paoli  rubbed  his  eyes  with  amaze- 
ment, and  asked  the  officer  in  command  what  it 
meant  ?  "  We  are  here,"  was  the  reply,  "  at 
M.  Dosse's  request."  Paoli  sought  further  in- 
formation from  the  Courier,  who  said,  "  We  expect 
a  visit  from  the  Empress  Eugenie."  This  in- 
creased Paoli's  surprise.  "  What !  "  he  exclaimed. 
"  You  are  going  to  render  honours  to  the  ex- 
Empress  of  the  French  with  the  soldiers  of  the 
Republic!"  "It  never  struck  me  like  that," 
said  Dosse.  "  But  it  struck  me  like  that,"  was 
the  brusque  rejoinder;  and,  on  Paoli's  emphatic 
17 


258        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

demand,  the  officer  withdrew  the  soldiers.  A  few 
days  later  Paoli  had  an  interview  with  the  Empress, 
who  said,  "  I  was  so  pleased  to  hear  that  you 
acted  as  you  did  the  other  day  ;  otherwise,  some 
of  the  papers  would  have  been  capable  of  throw- 
ing all  the  responsibility  for  the  incident  upon 
me,  and  my  position,  which  is  a  very  delicate  one, 
would  not  have  been  improved."  "  The  fact  is," 
adds  M.  Paoli,  "  that  some  people  would  have 
seen  in  this  simple  misunderstanding  some  political 
plot  or  other :  perhaps  even  an  attempt  to  restore 
the  Bonapartes ! ?:  One  wonders  what  Queen 
Victoria  had  to  say  about  the  blunder. 

When  Queen  Victoria  landed  at  Cherbourg 
year  after  year  the  "  Protector  of  Sovereigns " 
always  awaited  her.  With  that  smile  which  she 
lavished  on  her  favourites  Her  Majesty  would 
say  :  "  Tou jours  fidele  au  poste,  mon  bon  Paoli  ?  " 
and  "  my  good  Paoli  "  saw  "  in  this  Queen,  who 
gave  me  her  benevolent  sympathy  and  confidence, 
admitting  me  into  her  cercle  intime,  the  classic 
type  of  the  dear  old  Lady  in  all  the  grace  of  her 
secret  charm." 

The  greeting  of  Edward  vn.,  as  Prince  and  as 
King,  was  invariably :  "  Tou  jours  jeune  et 
brillant,  Monsieur  Paoli !  ?:  Sometimes  the  King 
would  tap  the  "  Protector's "  shoulder,  as  at 
Brussels  railway  station,  when,  King  and  special 
commissary  being  together  in  the  Royal  carriage 
in  which  the  then  Prince  of  Wales  had  been  seated 
when  the  anarchist  Sipido  fired  through  the  door 
at  him,  the  King  pointed  out  the  part  of  the  roof 


KING  EDWARD  IN  STORY  259 

which  still  bore  the  mark  of  the  revolver  bullet. 
"Look,  Paoli,"  said  His  Majesty,  "the  bullet 
came  just  here,  and  broke  the  window,  and  before 
burying  itself  in  the  wood  crossed  the  compart- 
ment and  almost  grazed  my  hat.  I  was  in  serious 
danger  that  day."  Then,  laying  his  hand  on 
Paoli's  shoulder :  "  That  would  certainly  not 
have  happened  had  you  been  with  me " — a 
pleasant  tribute  to  the  care  with  which  the 
commissary  guarded  his  Royal  "  clients." 

In  my  first  volume  I  have  spoken  in  detail  of 
the  friendship  of  the  King  and  the  late  General  the 
Marquis  de  Galliffet.  A  few  months  after  the 
famous  soldier's  death  the  King,  being  then  in 
Paris,  said  :  "  Galliffet 's  death  has  caused  a  great 
void.  I  have  lost  a  good  friend  whom  I  can  never 
replace." 

In  1905  there  were  lively  discussions  between 
the  King  and  the  hero  of  the  cavalry  charges  at 
Sedan,  a  propos  of  Morocco.  The  General  thought 
the  Morocco  policy  of  France  dangerous  from  the 
moment  it  was  decided  not  to  go  to  war  with 
Germany  over  the  dispute.1  "  King  Edward," 
says  Paoli,  "  never  expressed  before  me  his  views 
upon  Moroccan  affairs.  His  acts,  in  their  silent 
and  methodical  development,  spoke  more  elo- 
quently than  any  words.  His  official  visit  to 

1  At  Tangier  (April  2,  1905)  the  German  Emperor  made  a  speech 
which  was  regarded  as  conveying  a  direct  challenge  to  France, 
England,  and  Spain,  who  in  1904  had  concluded  agreements  relating 
to  Morocco.  A  result  of  the  Moroccan  imbroglio  was  the  resigna- 
tion of  M.  Delcasse,  the  French  Foreign  Minister — an  event  followed 
by  the  conferring  of  the  title  of  Prince  upon  Count  Bulow. 


260        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

France  at  the  outset  of  our  difficulties  with 
Germany,  his  cruise  in  Moroccan  waters  and  along 
the  coast  of  Algiers  on  the  morrow  of  the  German 
Emperor's  visit  to  Tangiers,  constituted  so  many 
demonstrations,  the  significance  of  which  was 
understood  and  fully  appreciated  by  French 
opinion." 

Before  and  after  King  Edward's  accession 
some  of  the  men  for  whom  he  had  the  greatest 
regard  were  caught  in  the  snares  of  financiers  like 
Whitaker  Wright  and  one  or  two  others.  The 
saddest  case  was  that  of  the  late  Lord  Dufferin, 
who  fell  into  the  hands  of  that  arch-rogue,  Whitaker 
Wright,  and  died  a  broken-hearted  man.  This 
renowned  diplomatist  made  fewer  enemies  than 
most  of  his  class.  From  time  to  time  he  had  his 
share  of  abuse,  as,  for  instance,  when  he  annexed 
Upper  Burmah,  and  when  he  wrote  his  glowing 
account  of  the  British  administration  of  Egypt ; 
but,  as  he  had  served  both  parties  in  the  State  with 
equal  credit,  there  was  no  exception  to  the  chorus 
of  praise  on  his  installation  as  Lord  Warden  of  the 
Cinque  Ports  in  1892.  As  Ambassador  to  France 
he  was  in  his  element.  Like  Lord  Granville,  Lord 
Clarendon,  and  Lord  Malmesbury,  he  spoke  the 
language  like  a  Frenchman.  Lord  Palmerston's 
French  was  on  a  par  with  the  Duke  of  Wellington's, 
and  Disraeli's  was  so  bad  that  at  the  Berlin  Con- 
gress, in  1878,  he  spoke  only  English — so  Bismarck 
told  the  Empress  Frederick,  in  answer  to  her 
question,  "  Does  he  not  speak  French  beautifully  ?  ': 
There  is  a  story  of  Lord  Clarendon's  readiness  in 


KING  EDWARD  IN  STORY  261 

reply  to  the  French  Minister  of  the  time.  He 
appointed  Sir  John  Crampton  to  Washington, 
shortly  after  the  War  of  Secession,  and  the  French- 
man said,  "  Mais,  mon  cher,  il  fallait  envoy er  un 
grand  seigneur  !  ':  "  C'est  a  peu  pres  la  meme 
chose,"  was  the  reply ;  "  s'il  n'est  pas  grand 
seigneur,  il  est  au  moins  le  fils  d'un  grand  saigneur." 
(Sir  John's  father,  the  first  baronet,  was  a  dis- 
tinguished Dublin  surgeon). 

Until  his  entanglement  with  Wrigho  (who 
poisoned  himself  at  the  Law  Courts  immediately 
after  he  had  been  sentenced  to  penal  servitude  for 
the  London  and  Globe  frauds),  Lord  Dufferin 
was  the  coolest  and  most  resourceful  of  men  in 
great  as  well  as  small  things.  At  his  beautiful 
Irish  home  he  once  gave  a  ball  to  which  he  invited 
the  officers  of  the  garrison.  The  hall  in  which 
they  danced  was  overcrowded,  and  the  ventilation 
was  imperfect.  Lord  Dufferin  ordered  some  steps 
to  be  brought  in,  and,  mounting  them,  kid  gloved  as 
he  was,  dashed  his  fists  through  pane  after  pane 
of  the  windows,  until  the  grateful  current  of  air 
relieved  his  guests. 

Lord  Kintore,  a  popular  courtier,  was  induced  to 
go  on  the  board  of  a  company  in  which  Count 
Ward  and  Mr.  Carlisle  Hertz  were  concerned ; 
and  one  or  two  other  of  King  Edward's  intimates 
had  to  regret  their  acceptance  for  a  while  of 
Directorships  of  a  Siberian  company.  Another 
man  on  very  friendly  terms  with  the  King  during 
his  Princedom — Sir  Jacob  Wilson — "  placed  "  on 
commission,  to  his  sorrow,  thousands  of  shares 


262        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

in  Hooley's  "  Hydraulic  Joint "  scheme,  the 
expiring  effort  of  the  financier,  who  paid  the 
penalty  early  in  1912.  Hooley  had  been  in  touch 
with  so  many  of  the  highest  in  the  realm  that, 
after  his  first  bankruptcy,  in  1898,  he  defied  all 
threats  of  a  prosecution — perhaps  with  some  show 
of  reason. 

Mr.  Hooley  was  brought  to  the  notice  of  King 
Edward  when  he  was  Prince  of  Wales  through  a 
variety  of  fortuitous  circumstances.  He  resold, 
at  the  price  he  had  paid  for  it,  some  land  which 
the  Prince  desired  to  acquire.  He  was  invited  to 
Sandringham  for  the  annual  sale  of  stock  ;  and  on 
one  occasion  the  Prince  deigned  to  give  him  a  few 
words  of  advice  on  a  personal  matter  (this  Hooley 
told  me),  which  the  financier  acted  upon.  From 
Sir  Jacob  Wilson,  H.R.H.  could  obtain  any  in- 
formation he  desired  concerning  Mr.  Hooley  and 
his  activities,  for  Sir  Jacob,  who  had  a  post  at  the 
Board  of  Agriculture,  had,  as  I  have  noted,  large 
dealings  with  the  financial  magnate  in  "  Hydraulic 
Joint "  shares.  Of  that  particular  Syndicate, 
before  it  was  launched  as  a  company  with  an 
absurdly-inflated  capital,  Lord  Ashburton,  who 
was  naturally  well  known  to  the  Prince,  was 
chairman,  and  lost  at  least  £100,000  in  the  ill- 
starred  venture.  The  late  Lord  Hood  (father  of 
Lord  Ashburton's  first  wife)  also  lent  his  name  to 
the  scheme,  with  regrettable  consequences  ;  and 
the  late  Earl  of  Crawford  was  chairman  of  the 
"  Hydraulic  "  Company.  The  fact  of  these  gentle- 
men associating  themselves  with  a  Hooley  scheme 


KING  EDWARD  IN  STORY  263 

between  1896  and  1898  must  have  surprised  the 
Prince,  as  it  certainly  surprised  people  generally. 
And  His  Royal  Highness  could  not  have  failed  to 
hear  the  reports  that  Hooley  had  been  approached 
on  the  delicate  subject  of  a  loan  for  the  Duke  of 
Edinburgh  ! 

In  one  way  and  another  Mr.  Hooley  became 
more  or  less  acquainted  with  a  number  of  men 
personally  known  to  the  Prince  of  Wales — Sir 
Henry  White,  the  Royal  solicitor,  among  others. 
Even  a  few  ladies  not  altogether  unknown  to  the 
Heir- Apparent  did  not  disdain  to  look  with 
admiring  gaze  upon  the  modern  Midas  ;  and  he 
made  his  first  appearance  in  London  society  at  a 
little  dinner-party  given  by  the  late  Hon.  Helen 
Henniker  in  Berkeley  Street  "  to  meet  Mr.  Hooley." 
The  financier's  introducer  to  some  of  London's 
elite  was  Mr.  A.  M.  Broadley.  Sir  William  Marriott 
and  others  got  him  elected  to  the  Carlton  Club, 
and  actually  supported  him  in  his  mad  quest  of  a 
baronetcy.  He  was  deluded  in  1897  by  an  assur- 
ance that  if  he  gave  a  donation  of  £50,000  to  the 
war-chest  of  the  Conservative  Party  (then  in 
power)  he  would  be  made  a  "  Jubilee  "  baronet  ! 
Needless  to  say  that  Lord  Salisbury  declined  to 
submit  his  name  to  Queen  Victoria,  who  would 
have  put  her  pen  through  it.  So  Mr.  Hooley 
had  to  be  content  with  the  return  of  his  cheque. 
But  "  The  Prince  told  me  I  must  not  do "  so 
and  so  was  long  the  boast  of  the  "Amazing 
Financier." 

She  was  a  very  beautiful  lady — trfe  grande 


264       MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

dame — and  she  was  skating,  in  which  she  was  an 
adept.  A  young  man,  a  visitor  at  Sandringham, 
was  so  unfortunate  as  to  knock  her  down.  Cap 
in  hand,  and  with  a  rueful  countenance,  he  assisted 
her  to  rise ;  then  very  humbly  he  gasped  out : 
"  Oh  !  madam,  pray  pardon  me  for  my  clumsiness, 
although  I  can  scarcely  hope  to  be  forgiven. 
I  do  trust,  madam,  I  have  not  hurt  you  very 
much."  He  was  speedily  comforted,  for  the 
lady — tres  grande  dame,  as  I  have  remarked — 
having  brushed  the  snow  from  her  dress  and  put 
her  white  astrachan  toque  straight,  smilingly 
said  :  "  Oh  !  never  mind,  you  couldn't  help  it, 
I  am  not  much  hurt,  but  I  fancy  you  have  rather 
damaged  my  sitting-down  arrangement !  "  "  Honi 
soit  qui  mal  y  pense." 

A  "  smart "  young  man,  a  "  Lancer,"  for 
whom  the  King  had  a  great  liking,  calling  him  by 
his  Christian  name,  Vivian,  learnt,  to  his  surprise, 
that  he  had  been  elected  a  member  of  the  "  Marl- 
borough."  He  had  several  clubs,  did  not  want 
another,  and  consequently  "  declined  with  thanks  " 
the  honour  of  membership  of  the  club  opposite  the 
Royal  residence.  The  next  time  they  met  His 
Majesty  rather  sharply  commented  on  the  incident : 
"  Are  you  aware  that  /  proposed  you  ?  "  Poor 
little  Vivian  was  abashed,  "  thought  it  over," 
and  ere  many  days  had  passed  his  name  figured 
among  "  members  elected  " — an  honour  for  which 
so  many — not  all  ineligible — have  vainly  sighed. 
A  friend  of  mine  who  dined  at  the  Marlborough  with 
Vivian  to  celebrate  his  admission  to  the  sacro- 


KING  EDWARD  IN  STORY  265 

sanct  institution  confessed  that  it  was  the 
"  slowest  "  evening  he  had  ever  passed.  Vivian 
was  very  difficult  to  please,  for,  being  made  by  His 
Majesty's  favour  a  King's  Messenger,  he  so  little 
valued  the  "  silver  greyhound  "  badge  that  he 
only  held  the  post  six  months.  He  "  didn't  like  it." 

One  night  at  the  opera  (Drury  Lane)  a  friend 
of  mine  was  the  guest  of  a  lady  to  whom  the  Duke 

of had  lent  his  box.     Between  the  acts  he 

went  out  to  enjoy  a  cigarette,  and,  returning, 
accidentally  crossed  the  threshold  of  the  adjoin- 
ing box.  A  gentleman  was  smoking  and  speaking 
to  a  lady.  "  I  know  him.  He  is  not  to  be 
tr-r-usted."  The  well-known  voice  told  my 
friend  who  was  speaking,  and  he  withdrew  without 
being  observed  by  either  of  the  two  occupants  of 
the  box.  Outside,  Princess  Victoria  was  walking 
up  and  down,  eating  chocolate  creams  until  it 
was  time  to  rejoin  her  parents  in  the  Royal  loge. 

"  You  often  go  to  the  theatre,"  said  M.  Marcel 
Hutin  in  1907.  "  Not  long  ago  I  saw  you  at 
Rejane's  Theatre.  King  Edward  and  Queen 
Alexandra  were  there."  "  Yes,  yes,"  replied 
Madame  Patti.  "  Both  made  me  un  petit  signe 
de  la  main  by  way  of  saying,  '  bonjour.'  Are 
you  aware  that  I  have  known  the  King  these 
forty-eight  years  ?  I  first  met  him  in  1860,  at 
New  York.  The  Prince  of  Wales  was  in  the 
United  States  incognito.  I  was  presented  to  him 
just  after  I  made  my  debut  in  '  Lucie  de  Lammer- 
moor.'  I  was  then  sixteen.  Yes,  I  am  over 
sixty-four,  and  not  ashamed  to  avow  it." 


266        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

King  Edward  was  the  first  of  our  reigning 
monarchs  to  exclusively  occupy  the  British 
Embassy  in  Paris.  The  spacious  ambassadorial 
hotel,  with  its  delightful  garden,  in  the  Rue  du 
Faubourg  St.  Honore  has  a  history  extending 
over  upwards  of  ninety  years.  It  is  No.  39  in  the 
street,  and  was  designed  by  a  French  architect, 
Mazin,  who  planned  the  house  and  also  the  garden 
which  "  gives "  on  the  Avenue  Gabriel.  Its 
original  owner  was  the  Due  de  Bethune-Charost, 
and  after  the  Revolution  it  passed  into  the  posses- 
sion of  Napoleon  i.'s  sister,  the  beautiful  Princess 
Pauline  Bonaparte,  better  known  as  Princess 
Borghese. 

On  one  of  her  continental  journeys,  late  in  the 
eighties  or  early  in  the  nineties,  Queen  Victoria, 
when  passing  through  Paris,  had  a  slight  mishap 
at  the  Embassy.  Her  Majesty  slipped  as  she  was 
getting  out  of  her  carriage,  and  fell,  happily  less 
heavily  than  would  have  been  the  case  had  not 
John  Brown,  who  was  standing  by,  come  to  the 
rescue  just  in  time  to  save  the  Queen  from  a  serious 
mishap.  The  mention  of  this  episode  (which, 
luckily,  had  no  unpleasant  consequences)  reminds 
me  of  what  befell  Her  Majesty  at  Windsor  Castle 
in  1883.  The  Queen  slipped  as  she  was  descend- 
ing the  stairs,  and  the  result  was  an  injury  to  one 
knee  which  greatly  troubled  and  inconvenienced 
Her  Majesty  during  nearly  the  whole  of  that  year 
and  the  following  one,  and  prevented  her  from 
taking  a  continental  holiday  in  1884. 

Some  of  King  Edward's  friends  were  interested 


KING  EDWARD  IN  STORY  267 

in  Johannis  water,  and  His  Majesty  (as  Prince  of 
Wales)  did  not  a  little  to  popularise  the  beverage. 
At  a  luncheon  given  at  the  Johannis  Brunnen  the 
Prince  was  present,  and  figured  in  two  photographs 
of  the  scene.  In  these  pictures  we  see,  among  the 
twenty  guests,  Lord  Burnham  (then  Sir  Edward 
Lawson),  Sir  William  ("  Billy  ")  Russell,  Sir  John 
Puleston,  Major- General  Stanley  Clarke,  the 
Countess  Merenberg  (whose  son  ineffectually  claimed 
the  throne  of  Luxemburg  three  years  ago), 
the  Countess  Torby,  the  Grand  Duke  Michael  of 
Russia,  and  Miss  de  Keyser. 

I  remember  the  sensation  caused  in  May  1889 
by  the  arrival  in  London  of  General  Boulanger, 
who  stayed  at  the  "  Bristol,"  Burlington  Gardens. 
He  was  at  a  dinner-party  given  by  Baroness 
Burdett-Coutts  ;  but  Lord  Cross  did  not  "  walk  out 
of  the  house  because  he  found  the  General  there." 
What  is  true  is  that  Madame  Waddington,  wife  of 
the  French  Ambassador,  declared  she  would  strike 
off  her  list  all  who  annoyed  the  Republic  by 
entertaining  Boulanger.  Some  took  umbrage  at 
the  pronunciamiento  of  Madame  PAmbassadrice. 
Despite  what  people  said  to  the  contrary,  the 
Prince  of  Wales  shunned,  and  continued  to  shun, 
the  General,  whose  main  financial  backer  was  the 
rich  Orleanist  Duchesse  d'Uzes,  irreverently  known 
as  the  "  Duchess  of  Fizz  "  from  her  connection 
with  the  "  Clicquot  "  proprietary.  She  was  slightly 
known  to  Queen  Mary's  family.  Those  behind  the 
scenes  know  that  the  intention  of  the  Boulangists, 
had  the  General  made  a  successful  coup  d'etat,  was 


268        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

to  secure  the  throne  for  the  Orleanists.  But 
Boulanger  as  "  Monk  "  was  a  dead  failure.  The 
Prince  of  Wales  did  well  to  steer  clear  of  the  con- 
spirator, whom  he  had  once  met  in  Paris,  and  dis- 
liked. Had  H.R.H.  shown  any  sympathy  for 
him  there  must  have  been  an  interruption  of  our 
cordial  relations  with  France.  The  General  had 
his  chance  in  the  winter  of  1888,  but  he  lacked  the 
pluck  to  take  advantage  of  it. 

General  de  Galliffet  crossed  the  Channel  in 
1891  almost  immediately  after  the  manoeuvres 
of  the  French  army,  in  which  he  specially  dis- 
tinguished himself — so  much  so,  indeed,  as  to  be 
the  recipient  of  the  Military  Medal.  I  heard  at 
the  time  that  when  General  Boulanger  was  at  the 
zenith  of  his  popularity  the  Prince  of  Wales  was 
desirous  of  meeting  him.  General  de  Galliffet 
arranged  a  little  dinner ;  but,  upon  the  news 
leaking  out  in  London,  somebody  (some  said  the 
Duke  of  Cambridge,  others  the  Marquis  of  Harting- 
ton)  sent  an  urgent  telegram  begging  H.R.H.  not 
to  have  anything  to  do  with  the  friend  of  the 
Duchesse  d'Uzes.  Result  :  No  dinner,  and  no 
presentation  of  Boulanger  to  the  Prince.  All 
acquainted  with  General  de  Galliffet  know  him  to 
have  been  one  of  the  best  soldiers  France  ever 
had,  or  is  ever  likely  to  have.  Some  remember 
how  he  led  one  of  the  splendid  cavalry  charges  at 
Sedan  ;  while  not  a  few  knew  him  as  a  charming 
companion,  always  in  the  most  buoyant  spirits, 
and  a  devoted  friend  and  admirer  of  H.R.H. 
He  was  the  hero  of  more  stories  than  perhaps  any 


KING  EDWARD  IN  STORY  269 

other  member  of  his  set ;  and  that  is  saying  a 
great  deal.  At  the  Opera  one  night  he  encountered 
a  gentleman  who  had  been  a  priest — a  man  of 
exceptional  note  at  the  Imperial  Court — but  who 
had  lost  his  gown  for  some  peccadillo  or  other. 
Well,  the  unfrocked  priest  (the  notorious  Abbe 
Bauer)  and  the  General  met  on  the  grand  staircase, 
and  Bauer  saluted  the  latter  military  fashion. 
The  General  may  have  looked,  but  he  did  not 
outwardly  express,  his  surprise  ;  all  he  did,  to  the 
amusement  of  the  bystanders,  most  of  whom  knew 
both  men,  was  to  stop  in  front  of  the  defroque,  and, 
with  appropriate  gesture,  give  him  his  blessing — 
then  pass  on  without  a  word  !  Only  three  years 
ago  a  long  correspondence  was  carried  on  in  the 
Paris  papers  in  reference  to  those  cavalry  charges 
which  I  have  mentioned ;  and  an  attempt  was 
made  to  rob  De  Galliffet  of  some  of  his  well-earned 
laurels.  The  attempt,  however,  failed,  and  the 
General  became  more  popular  than  ever.  There 
was  a  time  when  Madame  de  Galliffet,  Madame 
Edmond  de  Pourtales,  Madame  de  Sagan,  and 
Madame  de  Canisy  ruled  Paris  society.  Now  one 
seldom  hears  even  the  name  of  three  of  these  ladies 
mentioned,  so  great  is  the  change  which  has  come 
over  social  Paris.  Madame  de  Pourtales,  the  most 
beautiful  of  the  Tuileries  group,  is  one  of  the  few 
survivors  of  the  Second  Empire  period. 

Mr.  Gladstone,  after  examining  his  letters, 
made  a  selection  of  60,000  and  stored  them  in  a 
fire-proof  room.  They  included  (Lord  Morley 
has  told  us)  between  500  and  600  holographs 


270       MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

from  Queen  Victoria.  Only  Lord  Knollys  and 
one  or  two  others  could  give  us  an  idea  of  the 
number  of  letters  received  from  first  to  last  by 
King  Edward.  It  would  be  folly  to  hazard  a 
guess.  "  I  don't  know  much  of  the  inner  side  of 
Court  gossip,"  said  Mr.  Gladstone,  "  but  I  have  a 
very  bad  opinion  of  it,  and  especially  on  this 
ground — that,  while  absolutely  irresponsible,  it 
appears  to  be  uniformly  admitted  as  invaluable." 

Lord  Melbourne,  as  everybody  knows,  was 
Queen  Victoria's  first  Prime  Minister,  and  it  was 
of  him  that  Mr.  Gladstone  told  this  story  in  an 
article  on  the  Melbourne  Government.  "  Mr.  G." 
found  it  in  '  The  Ossington  Papers."  Lord 
Ossington  (wrote  "  Mr.  G.")  used  to  relate  that, 
encountering  Lord  Melbourne  when  about  to 
mount  his  horse  at  the  door  of  the  office,  he  called 
his  attention  to  some  required  modifications  in 
his  new  Poor  Law  Bill.  Lord  Melbourne  referred 
him  to  his  brother  George.  :<  I  have  been  with 
him,"  was  the  reply,  "  but  he  damned  me,  and 
damned  the  Bill,  and  damned  the  paupers." 
'  Well,  damn  it,  what  more  could  he  do  ?  "  was  the 
rejoinder. 

"  Punch "  is  the  last  iournal  in  which  one 
would  expect  to  find  a  slighting  reference  to  King 
Edward.  Its  issue  of  February  5,  1913,  con- 
tained an  article  headed  "  A  Flash  of  Sunshine," 
descriptive  of  certain  "  treasures "  seen  by  the 
writer  in  Cranbourn  Street.  Besides  "  the  oldest 
known  cricket  bat,"  we  are  told,  there  "  is  even 
more  of  a  curiosity.  Nothing  less  than  the  very 


KING  EDWARD  IN  STORY  271 

bat  which  during  his  brief  and  not  too  glorious 
cricket  career  was  employed  to  defend  his  wicket, 
if  not  actually  to  make  runs,  by  the  late  King 
Edward  vn.  when  he  was  Prince  of  Wales.  For 
that  otherwise  accomplished  ruler  and  full  man 
(as  the  old  phrase  has  it)  was  never  much  of  a 
C.  B.  Fry.  He  knew  the  world  as  few  have  known 
it ;  he  commanded  respect  and  affection  ;  he  was 
accustomed  to  give  orders  and  have  them  in- 
stantly obeyed  ;  but  almost  any  one  could  bowl 
him  out,  and  it  is  on  record  that  those  royal  hands, 
so  capable  in  their  grasp  of  orb  and  sceptre,  had 
only  the  most  rudimentary  and  incomplete  idea 
of  completing  a  catch.  Such  are  human  antici- 
pations !  Here,  however,  in  the  Cranbourn  Street 
window  is  His  Majesty's  bat,  and  even  without 
the  accompanying  label,  one  would  guess  that  it 
was  the  property  of  no  very  efficient  cricketer. 
For  it  lacks  body.  So  much  for  what  may  be 
called  the  freaks  of  this  fascinating  window." 
The  article  is  not  in  any  sense  of  the  word  a 
humorous  one,  and  seemed  singularly  out  of  place 
in  the  always  amusing  pages  of  our  only  "  comic  " 
journal. 

When  "  the  Prince  "  visited  Canada  and  the 
United  States,  souvenir  hunters  eagerly  purchased 
the  duck-bones  which  an  enterprising  Yankee  had 
taken  from  His  Royal  Highness's  plate ;  and  at 
Homburg,  Marienbad,  and  Biarritz  people  as  eagerly 
bid  for  his  cigar  ends,  while  others  seized  his  coffee- 
cup  and  drank  the  dregs.  Souvenirs  of  Queen 
Victoria  used  to  be  in  equal  demand.  In  1893 


272        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

Her  Majesty  took  her  spring  "  outing  "  at  Florence, 
and  after  she  had  left  the  Villa  Palmieri  (lent 
by  Lady  Crawford),  a  quick-witted  chambermaid 
made  a  pile  of  lire  by  selling  scraps  of  blotting-paper 
warranted  to  have  been  "  used  by  the  Queen  of 
England  !  " 

My  venerable  Scottish  friend,  Mr.  J.  Crowle, 
of  Montreal,  an  author  of  distinction,  and  a  de- 
voted loyalist,  tells  me  he  remembers  the  late 
King's  visit  to  Canada  and  the  United  States  : 

On  the   Prince's   arrival   at   Montreal   on  the 
25th  of  August  1860,  the  streets  were  thronged 
by  eager  multitudes.     To  have  a  good  look  at  him, 
like  Zaccheus  of  old,  I  climbed  a  tree  in  the  Place 
d'Armes  to  see  the  pageant  passing  by,  and  cheered 
for  all  I  was  worth.     I  attended  the  Levee  at  the 
Town  Hall,   and   witnessed  the  amusing  contre- 
temps that  ensued  when  Rev.  Dr.  Mathieson  de- 
clined to  present  the  address  of  his  Synod  to  the 
Prince.     On  being  told  that  he  must  not  read  it 
(as  the  representatives  of  the  Roman  Catholic  and 
Anglican  Churches  had  just  done),  but  simply  hand 
it  to  the  Secretary,  with  offended  dignity  he  in- 
formed the  Governor- General  that  such  a  course 
would  neither  be  satisfactory  to  the  deputation 
nor  respectful  to  the  Church  he  represented.     So 
saying,    he   rolled   up   the   parchment,    handed   it 
to  the  Synod  clerk,  and  proudly  marched  away. 
The     Prince    was     visibly    exercised    when     one 
of  the  staff  whispered  audibly,  "That's  Scotch." 
The    amende    honorable   was    made    a   few   days 
later    at    Kingston,    when    the    Synod's     address 
was    read    by    the    old    Doctor,    and    graciously 
received  by  His  Royal  Highness.     It  fell  to  me  to 
draft  the  address  from  "the  inhabitants  of  the 


KING  EDWARD  IN  STORY  273 

County  of  Dundas,"  and  I  had  the  honour  of  pre- 
senting it  to  the  Prince  at  Ottawa  on  September  1. 
I  have  in  my  possession  three  letters  from  King 
Edward,  all  couched  in  terms  much  more  gracious 
than  I  had  any  reason  to  expect. 

During  the  late  Lord  Lytton's  residence  in 
Paris,  the  Prince  of  Wales  (King  Edward)  once 
accompanied  the  English  Ambassador  to  church, 
and  Lady  Lytton  was  one  of  the  party.  The 
preacher  gave  out  as  a  text,  "  And  now  abideth 
faith,  hope,  and  charity,  these  three,"  etc. — but 
suddenly  His  Royal  Highness  pulled  out  his  watch, 
recollected  he  had  an  invitation  to  lunch,  and 
would  "  abide  "  no  longer,  but  walked  out  of  the 
church,  much  to  the  minister's  discomfiture,  for 
the  reverend  gentleman  had  prepared  a  special 
sermon  upon  charity,  and,  of  course,  there  was  a 
collection.  Whether  the  Prince  forwarded  his 
donation  in  the  interests  of  charity  I  cannot  say, 
but  he  would  have  none  of  the  sermon.  That 
same  Sunday  the  Prince  looked  in  at  an  afternoon 
"  drum  " — an  "  intimate  "  tea  of  the  approved 
Parisian  stamp — and  later  heard  all  the  newest 
sornettes  at  a  little  dinner  at  the  Palais  Royal 
Club,  where  he  was  always  welcome. 

King  Edward,  unlike  the  German  Emperor, 
did  not  use  the  stylographic  pen.  On  this  point 
(of  the  pen)  a  letter  was  addressed  to  the  Water- 
man Company  by  the  then  Major  Ponsonby,  of 
the  British  Embassy  in  Paris  :  "  I  have  had 
the  honour  of  handing  to  His  Majesty  the  pen 
which  you  have  been  good  enough  to  offer  him  on 

18 


274       MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

behalf  of  the  Waterman  Company.  The  King 
commands  me  to  explain  to  you  that  he  has  been 
obliged  to  make  it  a  rule  never  to  accept  presents 
from  persons  with  whom  he  is  not  acquainted. 
His  Majesty  will,  however,  be  pleased  to  purchase 
the  pen  if  you  will  oblige  me  by  sending  the 
account  for  the  same." 

Nothing  is  sacred  to  the  sapper  and  the  inter- 
viewer. One  of  the  latter  genus  discovered  what 
King  Edward's  pockets  contained.  In  the  waist- 
coat pockets  were  a  gold  pencil-case,  a  cigar- 
cutter,  the  key  of  a  small  "  secret  "  box,  a  watch, 
invariably  regulated  by  Greenwich  Observatory, 
and  a  handful  of  gold  coins,  among  which  were 
sometimes  a  few  silver  pieces ;  also  a  small 
memorandum-book,  in  which  His  Majesty  jotted 
down  sundry  happy  thoughts.  In  winter  the 
King  kept  his  gloves  in  one  of  the  pockets  of  his 
overcoat ;  in  the  summer  he  carried  them  in  one 
hand,  and  never  slipped  them  into  a  pocket.  It 
was  evident  that  "  the  elegant  Sovereign  had 
never  had  a  snuff-box "  (textual) ;  but  some- 
times he  carried  "  a  little  box  of  pastilles." 

The  summer  of  1892  saw  the  Prince  of  Wales 
emerge  from  his  long  retirement  after  the  death  of 
the  Duke  of  Clarence  and  the  entry  of  the  Duke  of 
York  (King  George  v.)  upon  public  life.  The 
Heir- Apparent  marked  his  return  by  going  to  a 
smoking  concert,  then  he  went  to  the  play,  and, 
lastly,  he  gratified  the  great  house  of  Cadogan  by 
attending  the  marriage  of  Lady  Emily  Cadogan 
and  Lord  Lurgan,  at  the  Church  of  the  Holy 


KING  EDWARD  IN  STORY  275 

Trinity,  in  Sloane  Street,  the  scene  of  the  Dudley 
wedding  a  year  before. 

At  the  marriage  were  many  who  had  for 
several  years  composed  what  was  known  as  "  the 
Prince's  Set  " — a  vulgarism,  the  use  of  which  was 
later  confined  to  the  self -dubbed  "  Smart  Set." 
The  Prince  of  Wales  was  warmly  received,  and 
the  lowly  obeisances  of  the  grandes  dames  and  the 
back-breaking,  neck-twisting  bows  of  the  men  were 
as  amusing  to  witness  as  ever.  The  Royal  Welsh- 
man took  all  the  salaaming  and  kowtowing  quite 
as  a  matter  of  course,  and  was  prodigal  in  the 
dispensing  of  his  "  nods  and  becks,"  the  "  wreathed 
smiles  "  being  supplied  wholesale  by  the  audience — 
I  mean  the  congregation.  This  was  one  of  the 
functions  at  which  the  Prince  was  very  much  at 
home.  He  scintillated  with  pleasure,  beamed  with 
joy,  and  looked  pleased  with  himself  and  delighted 
at  the  happiness  of  others,  more  particularly  if 
he  had  had  any  hand  in  bringing  some  young 
newly-married  pair  together. 

Many  people  rubbed  their  eyes  on  reading,  in 
February  1893,  that  the  Prince  of  Wales  had  given 
a  big  dinner-party  at  Marlborough  House — "to 
men  only,"  as  the  Exeter  Hall  "  posters  "  used  to 
have  it.  '  What  was  the  occasion  of  it  ?  "  every- 
body was  asking  everybody  else.  It  was  in  the 
nature  of  a  Parliamentary  dinner,  though  only 
comparatively  few  ministers  were  invited — the 
Prime  Minister,  Mr.  Morley,  Mr.  Asquith,  Sir 
William  Harcourt,  Mr.  Fowler,  the  Lord  Chancellor, 
Lord  Rosebery,  Lord  Kimberley,  and  "  C.-B." 


276        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

among  them.  There  was  a  sprinkling  of  foreign 
diplomatists  to  give  piquancy  to  the  gathering  ; 
and  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  was  there  to  say 
grace  and  return  thanks ;  and  the  Bishop  of 
Rochester  to  assure  "  Mr.  G."  that  there  was  less 
bribery  in  the  Kentish  borough  than  the  judges 
had  sought  to  make  out ;  and  the  Lord  Chief 
Justice  of  England  to  beam  upon  everybody  and 
impart  a  classic  tone  to  the  conversation  ;  and 
Lord  Spencer  to  murmur  to  himself,  "  I  told  the 
Prince  all  that  he  knows  about  Home  Rule  "  ; 
and  Sir  Andrew  Clark  to  see  that  the  "  G.O.M." 
took  a  glass  of  port  with  his  cheese — "  or  its 
equivalent  "  ;  and  Lord  Ripon  to  answer  every- 
body's queries  a  propos  of  the  great  pilgrimage 
to  Rome  ;  and  three  Dukes — York,  Cambridge, 
and  Fife — to  cheer  the  Prince  up  in  case  he  wanted 
a  fillip. 

King  Edward  much  relished  a  story  in  which 
the  chef  of  Prince  Billow  figured.  The  former 
Imperial  Chancellor  rejoiced  for  twenty  years  in 
the  possession  of  a  French  cook,  whom  the 
Emperor  nicknamed  "  Misery  "  ;  and  I  give  the 
anecdote  in  Prince  Billow's  own  words  :  '  We 
were  in  Italy,  where  our  cook  had  served  us  for 
many  years.  One  day  His  Majesty  summoned 
me  to  direct  the  Foreign  Office.  I  called  the  cook 
and  told  him  that  we  were  about  to  leave  Rome 
for  Berlin,  but  that  our  future  house,  and  his 
kitchen,  would  be  on  a  smaller  scale  than  that  of 
the  Caffarelli  Palace,  which  we  were  then  inhabit- 
ing. I  asked  him  if  he  would  care  to  come  with  us 


KING  EDWARD  IN  STORY  277 

to  Berlin.  He  wanted  half  an  hour  to  think  it 
over,  and  at  the  end  of  that  time  he  came  to  me 
and  said,  very  simply  :  '  I  have  considered  the 
matter,  and  I  accept  your  Excellency's  offer  to 
remain  in  your  service.  When  one  has  had  such  a 
good  master  and  mistress  as  I  have  had  it  would  be 
shameful  to  abandon  them  when  they  have  fallen 
into  misery  !  '  I  told  the  story  to  the  Emperor, 
who  roared  with  laughter,  and  from  that  day  His 
Majesty  has  called  our  cook  '  Misery.'  The 
Emperor,  who  appreciated  his  cooking,  gave  him  a 
gold  watch,  on  which  His  Majesty's  monogram  was 
engraved,  and  a  very  fine  chain." 

Few  men  had  a  more  intimate  acquaintance 
with  King  Edward  than  Sir  George  Lewis,  who 
died  in  December  1911.  The  resourcefulness  of 
this  man  with  the  intellectual,  placid  face,  and  the 
eyes  that  seemed  as  if  they  would  pierce  your 
inmost  soul,  was  marvellous  indeed.  With  his 
acute  mind  he  saw  what  others  either  overlooked 
or  were  too  obtuse  to  observe.  And  his  boldness  ! 
"  II  nous  faut  de  1'audace,  et  encore  de  1'audace, 
et  tou  jours  de  1'audace  " — Danton  must  have  had 
such  a  man  in  his  mind  when  he  coined  that  phrase. 
He  is  credited  with  some  amusing  sayings.  Thus, 
at  an  afternoon  "  crush  "  at  Marlborough  House  : 
'  Half  these  people  would  be  in  prison  if  they  had 
their  deserts  !  "  This  is  the  kind  of  mot  that  no 
one  resents,  and  everybody  repeats  ;  it  is  a  "  safe 
thing "  for  a  dinner-party,  from  Royal  tables 
downwards. 

A  friend  of  mine,   who  was  strolling  absent- 


278        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

mindedly  along  St.  James's  Street,  "  cannoned  " 
against  a  gentleman  opposite  "  White's,"  and 
almost  jostled  him  off  the  pavement.  Turning  to 
apologise  for  his  unintentional  rudeness,  he  was 
horrified  at  finding  himself  confronted  by  "the 
Prince,"  who,  returning  my  friend's  profound 
salutation,  passed  smilingly  on.  "  Whenever 
afterwards,"  said  my  friend,  "  I  was  near  enough 
to  the  Prince  to  be  recognised,  I  saw,  by  his 
amused  smile,  that  he  had  not  forgotten  the  in- 
cident— or  me." 

King  Edward  as  Prince  had  many  curious 
experiences  in  correspondence.  Attempts  were 
made  to  gain  his  ear  by  letter,  or  to  obtain  his 
autograph,  and  even  to  drag  him  into  print  by  the 
enterprising  editors  of  various  publications.  Our 
American  cousins  were  the  chief  sinners,  for, 
despite  their  democratic  tendencies,  they  dearly 
love  to  secure  something  stamped  with  the  approval 
or  sign-manual  of  Royalty.  American  literary 
men  and  publishers  tried  to  inveigle  our  Princes 
and  Princesses  into  granting  "  interviews,"  or  to 
write  for  their  magazines.  One  agent  came  to 
London  in  1892  prepared  to  offer  £1000  for  an 
article,  however  brief,  on  any  subject,  by  the 
Princess  of  Wales.  Needless  to  say,  he  never  saw 
her,  except  when  she  drove  in  the  Park. 

Professor  Vambery,  of  Bucharest  University, 
was  justly  proud  of  the  friendship  with  which 
King  Edward  honoured  him.  After  the  publica- 
tion of  his  remarkable  work,  "  The  Coming  Struggle 
for  India,"  Vambery  was  invited  by  Queen 


KING  EDWARD  IN  STORY  279 

Victoria  to  visit  her  at  Windsor.  He  had  previ- 
ously been  presented  to  Her  Majesty  when  he 
was  staying  at  Sandringham  with  the  future  King 
Edward  and  his  consort.  The  Professor,  who  is 
now  (1913)  in  his  eighty-second  year,  says  :  "  I 
received  a  card  bearing  the  following  invitation  : 
c  The  Lord  Steward  has  received  Her  Majesty's 
command  to  invite  Professor  Vambery  to  dinner 
at  Windsor  on  Monday,  the  6th  May,  and  to  remain 
until  the  following  day. — Windsor  Castle,  5th 
May  1889."  A  Royal  carriage  awaited  him  at 
the  station,  and  at  the  Castle  he  was  received  by 
the  Lord  Steward,  Sir  Henry  Ponsonby,  who 
asked  him  to  enter  his  name  and  the  date  of  his 
birth  in  the  Queen's  birthday  book.  "  Sir,"  said 
Vambery,  "I  do  not  know  the  exact  date  of  my 
birth,  and  I  should  not  like  to  enter  a  lie  in  the 
Royal  book."  He  wrote  "  the  conventional 
date,"  March  19,  1832,  and  felt  "quite  sure  that 
among  the  many  guests  at  Windsor  there  was 
never  another  to  whom  the  day  and  year  of  his 
entry  into  this  world  were  unknown."  "  The 
foreign  defender  of  British  interests  in  India " 
became  immediately  popular  with  the  Court 
officials  (who  probably  remembered  that  the 
eminent  Hungarian  was  in  the  good  books  of 
''  the  Prince "),  and  "  was  much  surprised  to 
hear  one  of  the  higher  functionaries,  an  ardent 
admirer  (as  was  King  Edward)  of  Mr.  Gladstone, 
speak  in  very  sharp  terms  of  the  politics  of  the 
Conservative  Lord  Salisbury,  even  drawing  me 
into  the  discussion."  The  Professor  sat  next 


280       MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

but  two  to  the  Queen  at  dinner,  and  he  tells  us 
that  it  was  "a  great  mistake  to  imagine  that  this 
Princess,  placed  at  the  head  of  the  Monarchical 
Republic,  as  England  may  be  called  on  account 
of  its  constitution,  was  only  the  symbolical  leader 
of  the  mighty  State,  having  no  influence  on  its 
wonderful  machinery."  Vambery  observed  that 
Queen  Victoria,  like  King  Edward,  had  a  rmeark- 
able  memory,  "  knew  the  ins  and  outs  of  every 
question,  took  a  lively  interest  in  everything," 
and  was  often  witty. 

This  version  of  a  painful  scene  is  given  in 
"  London  Opinion  "  : 

An  incident  just  told  by  Mr.  Legge  in 
"  King  Edward  in  His  True  Colours  "  reminds  me 
of  a  somewhat  similar  affair  never  yet  related, 
I  believe.  When  Prince  of  Wales,  the  late  King 
gave  a  Sunday  dinner  at  Marlborough  House  to 
representative  actors,  including  Hare,  Bancroft, 
Wyndham,  Kendal,  Fernandez,  and  "  Lai  "  Brough. 
There  were  songs  and  stories  after  dinner,  and  one 
member  of  the  company  was  indiscreet  or  un- 
lucky enough  to  weigh  in  with  a  fairly  cerulean 
contribution  just  at  the  time  that  a  Princess  or 
two  had  slipped  in  to  hear  the  entertainment. 
The  Prince  straightway  told  the  footman  to  order 
the  gentleman's  carriage.  The  company  agreed 
to  keep  the  incident  dark  ;  but  Brough,  hearing 
whispers  which  fastened  the  indiscretion  upon 
him,  let  the  whole  thing  out,  with  the  name  of 
the  real  culprit. 

The  talented  editor  (Mr.  Springfield)  of  the 
popular  paper  referred  to  probably  means  that 


KING  EDWARD  IN  STORY  281 

the  episode  has  never  been  related  in  print.  I 
heard  it  at  the  time,  and  I  remember  the  surprise 
it  caused  at  the  clubs.  I  think  the  details  are 
correctly  reported  by  Mr.  Springfield,  who  is  also 
responsible  for  this  curious  story  : 

One  custom  always  observed  at  Sandringham 
on  the  eve  of  the  New  Year  was  that  of  the  "  first- 
footing."  King  Edward  instituted  the  practice 
every  year  of  clearing  the  house  of  every  adult 
staying  there,  servants  and  all,  at  five  minutes 
to  twelve,  and  was  himself  the  first  to  open  the 
main  door  after  midnight  had  struck  and  to  enter 
the  place,  leading  Queen  Alexandra  by  the  hand. 
The  only  time  he  was  forestalled  was  at  the  close 
of  1909,  when  a  younger  member  of  the  Royal 
Family  dashed  round  to  another  entrance  and 
threw  the  great  door  open  on  the  stroke  of  mid- 
night. "  We  shall  have  some  very  bad  luck  this 
year,"  remarked  the  King  gravely  ;  and  it  was 
a  curious  coincidence  that  His  Majesty  died  four 
months  afterwards, 

Sandringham,  we  can  never  forget,  was  the 
scene  of  that  serious  illness  of  "  the  Prince  "  in 
November  1871,  just  after  his  visit  to  Lord 
Londesborough.  Never,  in  our  days,  had  the 
country  been  immersed  in  deeper  gloom.  The 
life  of  the  Heir-Apparent  hung  on  the  merest 
thread,  and  all  were  prepared  for  the  worst.  At 
the  critical  juncture  Queen  Victoria  journeyed  to 
Sandringham — an  incident  which  was  regarded 
as  ominous  of  what,  it  was  feared,  was  about  to 
happen.  Nothing  was  talked  of  but  "  the 
Prince's"  illness.  In  the  churches  prayers  were 


282       MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

offered  up  for  his  recovery,  and  those  prayers 
were  mercifully  heard.  One  gloomy,  murky, 
depressing  December  afternoon  our  forebodings 
were  dispelled  by  the  publication  in  the  "  Evening 
Standard "  of  a  telegram  saying,  "  The  Prince 
is  better.  He  has  asked  for  a  glass  of  beer  !  " 
This  unexpected  news  threw  people  into  paroxysms 
of  delight.  Everybody  you  met  spoke  of  it.  A 
great  weight  was  lifted  from  us.  The  whole  king- 
dom was  galvanised  by  that  brief  telegram  ;  and 
the  quantity  of  vinous  and  spirituous  beverages 
consumed  that  night  to  celebrate  "  the  re- 
covery "  passed  comprehension.  "  He  has 
asked  for  a  glass  of  beer  ! "  The  cabmen,  and 
the  policemen,  and  everybody  else  quoted  it 
admiringly  with  broad  grins  on  their  honest 
countenances.  "  The  Prince  "  was  safe  !  It  was 
as  though  a  great  victory  had  been  won — and  it 
was  a  victory.  Tributes  of  praise  were  showered 
upon  the  doctors,  notably  upon  Sir  William  Gull ; 
women,  with  tears  in  their  eyes,  told  each  other 
that  "  the  darling  Princess "  had  nursed  her 
husband  day  and  night  through  the  terrible 
ordeal  ...  So  the  great  bell  of  St.  Paul's  never 
tolled,  although  the  ringers  had  been  "  standing 
by,"  waiting  for  the  expected  order ;  and  the 
"  in  memoriam  "  articles  which  had  been  written, 
and  "  set  up,"  and  "  passed  for  press,"  were 
never  wanted ;  and  Old  England  was  herself 
again ! 

Lionel  Brough   told   this   story  to  a  friend  of% 
mine  at  the  Eccentric  Club  :  One  day  at  Kempt  on 


KING  EDWARD  IN  STORY  283 

Park,  as  I  was  strolling  about,  considering  which 
horse  I  should  back  for  the  next  race,  I  was  pulled 
up  by  the  King,  who,  for  the  moment,  was  un- 
accompanied. !( Ah,  Mr.  Brough,"  said  His 
Majesty,  "  how  are  you  ?  Are  you  '  doing  any- 
thing '  ?  "  And  without  waiting  for  my  answer 
His  Majesty  said  :  ''  I  have  enjoyed  many  of  your 
stories.  Have  you  any  new  ones  to  tell  me  ?  " 
I  related  the  first  I  could  think  of  ;  it  amused  him, 
and  then  we  chatted  for  a  few  minutes  about  racing, 
as  was  but  natural.  "  And  what  did  you  get  out 
of  it,  Lai  ? "  inquired  an  inquisitive  club  man. 
'  Well,"  said  Brough,  "  I  got  two  winners  out  of 
it.  That  was  good  enough,  wasn't  it  ?  King 
Edward  knew  what  he  was  about,  no  matter  what 
he  was  doing  ;  and  when  he  very  kindly  gave  me 
two  tips  I  went  off  and  backed  them.  Both  won, 
and  that's  what  I  '  got  out  of  it.'  He  knew  most 
things,  did  dear  old  Teddy  ;  and  he  wasn't  the 
sort  to  keep  his  good  things  to  himself — God 
bless  him  !  " 

Among  the  late  King's  innumerable  decora- 
tions there  was  one  to  which  particular  interest 
attached,  yet  it  was  the  least  known  outside  his 
iedmmiate  entourage.  It  was  by  no  means 
striking  in  appearance,  but  it  had  great  historical 
and  personal  value  in  His  Majesty's  estimation. 
It  was  what  is  known  as  the  (French)  Military 
Medal,  and  was  the  gift  of  the  Emperor  Napoleon 
in.  Since  it  was  presented  to  King  Edward,  His 
Majesty  never  omitted  to  wear  the  riband  when 
he  was  passing  through  France.  The  Emperor 


284       MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

Napoleon  wore  the  Military  Medal;  it  was  tem- 
porarily placed  on  his  breast  the  morning  after 
his  death,  and  is  now  among  the  Empress's  most 
treasured  souvenirs. 

To  a  London  paper  in  1888  a  correspondent 
gave  a  lively  account  of  "  The  Prince  at  happy 
Homburg."  The  Prince  "  presented  an  admir- 
able picture  of  himself  to  the  foreigners,  and  one 
which  they  were  inclined  to  approve  except  in 
so  far  as  he  was  friendly  with  the  Jews.  That  is 
a  thing  that  the  European  mind  can  never  forget 
or  forgive.  The  comble  of  his  offence  in  this 
respect  was  reached  when  he  cast  the  light  of  his 
countenance  upon  a  fair  young  being  who  not 
only  was  a  Jewess,  but  by  her  mother's  side  a 
'  Frankfort  Jewess  '  !  To  think  that  here,  close 
to  her  ancestral  Judengasse,  this  young  pariah  of 
Christendom  should  be  enjoying  the  countenance 
and  friendship  of  an  exalted  being,  conspicuous 
and  pre-eminent  even  among  Royalty  itself,  was 
too  much  for  die  Geborene,  who  could  only  turn 
away  their  faces  in  rage  and  shame." 

A  story  which  must  have  amused  King  Edward 
reached  me  in  1907.  Vatel,  the  celebrated  chef 
of  the  Prince  de  Conde,  spitted  himself  with  his 
sword,  you  remember,  because  the  fish  arrived  too 
late  when  Louis  xiv.  visited  Chantilly  ;  and  Cubat, 
the  Tsar's  principal  cook,  was  probably  half 
tempted  to  follow  the  example  of  the  ill-fated 
Vatel  when,  in  August  1907,  he  discovered  that 
nearly  all  the  provisions  on  board  the  Imperial 
yacht  had  been  spoilt  by  the  inrush  of  salt  water 


KING  EDWARD  IN  STORY  285 

during  the  stormy  voyage.  The  Emperor  William 
was  to  lunch  on  the  "  Standart,"  and  not  only 
was  there  a  woeful  lack  of  meat,  fish,  and  poultry, 
but  not  a  morsel  of  fresh  bread  was  on  hand. 
Cubat  was  on  his  mettle.  Almost  before  the 
Imperial  yacht  had  anchored  he  was  off  to  Swine- 
munde  in  a  fast-going  steam  launch,  fondly  imagin- 
ing that  he  would  have  no  difficulty  in  getting 
everything  he  wanted  on  shore.  Upon  landing, 
however,  and  visiting  the  shops,  he  found,  to  his 
dismay,  that  the  cooks  of  the  f<  All-Highest's  " 
fleet  had  requisitioned  every  scrap  of  meat  and 
bread  in  Swinemiinde.  To  add  to  poor  Cubat's 
distress,  the  next  day  was  Sunday,  and  he  learnt 
that  all  the  shops  would  be  closed  !  The  Tsar's 
chef,  in  this  dilemma,  proved  himself  a  man  of 
resource.  He  so  worked  upon  the  feelings  of  the 
German  authorities  that  they  issued  a  special 
order  directing  the  tradesfolk  to  furnish  the 
Tsar's  yacht  with  all  necessaries ;  and  thus  it 
happened  that  Cubat  was  enabled  to  put  on  the 
Imperial  table,  immediately  after  the  celebration 
of  the  Divine  Office,  a  lunch  to  which  both  Em- 
perors did  ample  justice  ;  so  there  was  no  repeti- 
tion of  the  tragedy  at  Chantilly,  when  Louis 
Quatorze  had  to  go  without  his  fish  ! 

"  About  once  in  every  minute  and  a  half  the 
lid  of  the  Prince  of  Wales's  right  eye  drops  com- 
pletely over  the  ball."  We  must  not  question  the 
accuracy  of  this  assertion,  for  it  was  made  by  the 
late  American  Ambassador's  paper,  the  !f  New 
York  Tribune,"  in  1891.  "  The  eye  remains  closed 


286        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

for  the  space  of  about  a  second,  and  then  suddenly 
opens  again  to  its  fullest  extent,  no  other  feature 
of  the  face  having  moved  meanwhile.  People 
who  see  the  Prince  of  Wales  for  the  first  time  are 
tempted  to  believe  that  he  is  deliberately  winking 
at  them."  Of  course,  our  American  friend  explained 
that  "  the  wink  "  was  "  altogether  involuntary, 
the  result  of  a  tic  nerveux,"  but  naively  added 
that  it  had  the  effect  of  causing  those  with  whom 
he  conversed  "  to  start  off  blinking  in  response, 
especially  people  of  nervous  temperament." 
Prince  Albert  Victor  of  Wales  was  said  to  have 
been  not  happy  unless  engaged  in  pulling  up  his 
already  preternaturally  tall  collar,  or  in  twist- 
ing it  so  as  to  render  it  more  easy  round  his  neck. 
The  beautiful  Archduchess  Marie  Theresa  did  not 
escape  the  critic,  who  discovered  that  the  Royal 
lady  had  "  a  funny  little  way  of  twisting  a  loose 
little  curl  over  her  left  temple."  The  Emperor 
William  and  King  Humbert  had  a  habit  of  "  twist- 
ing their  moustaches,"  and  the  Emperor  Francis 
Joseph  of  !<  stroking  his  snow-white  whiskers." 
These  habits  were  said  to  be  the  "  true  indication 
of  character." 

A  foreign  potentate  to  whom  King  Edward 
never  "  took  "  was  the  Shah  of  Persia,  Nasr-ed- 
Din,  who  landed  at  Westminster  Stairs  in  June 
1889,  and  made  a  Royal  progress  through  the 
streets  to  Buckingham  Palace.  The  Persian 
Sovereign,  who  had  first  visited  us  in  1873,  was 
the  most  unattractive,  unsympathetic  of  all  the 
monarchs  I  have  seen — stolid,  apathetic,  and  as 


KING  EDWARD  IN  STORY  287 

ill-mannered  as  a  backwoodsman.  During  the 
few  days  he  was  in  Belgium,  in  1873,  the  Shah 
rode  a  white  horse,  on  which  I  saw  him  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Spa.  Before  coming  to  London 
in  1889  he  had  witnessed  the  procession  of  the 
Fete-Dieu  at  Brussels,  and  asked  a  number  of 
questions  about  the  ceremony  and  religion  in 
general.  He  must  have  improved  since  1873, 
when,  as  I  can  certify,  he  appeared  to  take  no 
interest  in  St.  Gudule,  one  of  the  noblest  specimens 
of  church  architecture  in  the  world.  M.  Anspach 
was  Burgomaster  at  that  time,  and  it  was  curious 
to  compare  the  courtesy  and  perfect  manners  of 
the  Belgian  citizen  with  the  boorishness  of  the 
Persian  monarch. 

The  chroniclers  of  the  Shah's  progress  from 
Brussels  to  London  in  1873  were  Kelly,  the 
"  Times  "  ;  Kingston,  "  Telegraph  "  ;  Forbes, 
"  Daily  News  "  ;  and  myself,  "  Morning  Post." 
The  spectacle  in  mid- Channel  was  magnificent. 
It  was  a  hot,  cloudless  day,  with  scarcely  a  ripple 
on  the  water.  The  Shah's  escort  consisted  of 
ironclads,  and  as  they  steamed  into  Dover  the 
scene  was  one  which  could  never  be  forgotten  by 
those  who  witnessed  it.  During  his  stay  in  Eng- 
land everything  likely  to  interest  or  amuse  him 
was  shown  the  Shah,  who,  however,  appeared  to 
view  all  our  great  show-places  with  the  utmost 
unconcern  and  lack  of  appreciation.  Mme.  Tus- 
saud's  waxworks  seemed  to  hit  his  fancy  more 
than  anything  else  ;  and  he  was  perfectly  happy 
with  a  peach  in  one  hand  and  a  glass  of  water,  or 


288       MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

sherbet,  in  the  other.  His  conversational  powers 
in  1873  were  of  the  feeblest ;  he  would  stand,  or 
sit,  by  the  hour  without  deigning  to  speak,  save 
in  monosyllables.  At  the  Brussels  Opera  he 
greatly  annoyed  the  Belgian  Royal  Family  by  the 
impertinent  way  in  which  he  looked  at  the  Queen 
and  the  Comtesse  de  Flandre.  I  saw  him  "  grab  5! 
some  fruit  offered  him  by  the  Princess  of  Wales 
at  the  Crystal  Palace  without  saying  a  word  of 
thanks  or  anything  else.  There  could  have  been 
no  greater  boor  in  the  world  than  the  bediamonded 
Shah  of  Persia . 

It  was  a  relief  to  everybody  when  he  left  London 
and  betook  himself  to  Paris,  where  they  used  to 
tell  some  extraordinary  stories  of  his  goings-on. 
Most  people  begrudged  every  penny  of  the  public 
money  spent  upon  him,  and  thought  it  a  positive 
sin  to  lavish  thousands  of  pounds  on  that  peri- 
patetic Persian,  who  should  have  been  made  to 
pay  for  his  pleasures  out  of  his  own  well-lined 
purse.  Report  said  some  of  his  retinue  had  left 
London  in  1873  leaving  sundry  "  little  bills " 
which  they  had  incurred  to  be  paid  by  Providence. 
Tradesmen  honoured  with  orders  from  that  quarter 
were  sharper  in  1889.  A  member  of  the  Common 
Council  said :  "  The  entertaining  of  the  Shah 
will  cost  the  City  from  £16,000  to  £18,000.  With 
our  recollections  of  sixteen  years  previously,  we 
did  not  intend  doing  anything  ;  but  the  Prince 
of  Wales  came  to  us  and  said  :  c  What  are  you 
going  to  do  towards  entertaining  the  Shah  ? ' 
4  Nothing,'  we  replied.  '  Well,  Her  Majesty  won't 


KING  EDWARD  IN  STORY  289 

do  anything,'  said  the  Prince ;  'and,  as  Heir- 
Apparent,  I  cannot.'  It  is  only  on  the  urgent 
representation  of  the  Prince  that  the  City  is 
spending  the  money." 

Lady  Paget,  widow  of  Sir  Augustus,  has  re- 
corded in  detail  and  with  much  verve  the  pour- 
parlers at  Copenhagen  leading  up  to  the  engagement 
of  Princess  Alexandra  and  the  Prince  of  Wales.1 
The  well-known  diplomatist,  Count  Hohenthal, 
had  married  the  morganatic  widow  of  the  Elector 
of  Hanover,  and  her  large  fortune  permitted  her 
to  give  numerous  entertainments.  The  Countess 
was  a  fair,  plump  woman,  fond  of  society,  and  by 
no  means  ill-natured.  She  had  no  daughters,  but 
was  like  a  mother  to  her  husband's  two  nieces, 
Wally  and  Valerie  Hohenthal.  The  former,  an 
exceedingly  pretty  girl,  maid  of  honour  to  Princess 
Victoria  (later  the  Empress  Frederick),  married 
Mr.  Paget  on  his  promotion  to  the  post  of  Minister 
at  Dresden,  and  is  now  Walpurga,  Lady  Paget. 

Prince  Hohenlohe  tells  us  that  "  the  Prince 
of  WTales,  when  at  Potsdam,  spoke  guardedly,  but 
was  disgusted  at  the  rudeness  (grobheit)  of  the 
Bismarcks,  both  father  and  son."  Do  we  not 
remember  how  Bismarck  said  he  would  treat  France 
when  the  question  of  the  war  indemnity  was  under 
discussion  ?  "I  will  bleed  her  white  ! ''  Bismarck 
and  Moltke  first  insisted  that  the  indemnity  should 
be  £240,000,000,  besides  surrendering  Alsace  and 
Lorraine.  They  reduced  it  to  £200,000,000  it  is 

1  "  Scenes  and  Memories."  By  Walpurga,  Lady  Paget.  Smith, 
Elder  &  Co.,  1912.  * 


290       MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

true,  but  only  because  of  our  Government's  firm 
remonstrance,  conveyed  to  Berlin  by  Lord  Gran- 
ville,  as  noted  in  the  official  records.  In  those 
distant  years  our  Prince  used  to  be  spoken  of  by 
the  "  Figaro  "  and  other  French  journals  as  "  un 
prince  faineant."  But  the  Hohenlohe  "  Memoirs  " 
show  that  there  was  very  little  of  the  faineant 
about  the  Uncle  of  Europe  at  any  period  of  his 
life. 

Six  years  after  the  war  with  France  the 
Emperor  William  i.  told  Prince  Hohenlohe  that  the 
Emperor  Alexander  n.,  father  of  the  Duchess  of 
Edinburgh  and  grandfather  of  the  present  Tsar, 
had  urged  Lord  Augustus  Loftus,  then  British 
Ambassador  at  St.  Petersburg,  to  remember  three 
points  : 

1.  Le  testament  de  Pierre  le  grand  n'existe 

pas. 

2.  Je  ne  ferais   jamais  des  conquetes  aux 

Indes. 

3.  Je  n'irais  jamais  a  Constantinople. 

Prince  Hohenlohe  disliked  Lord  Beaconsfield  more 
and  more  every  time  he  saw  him  at  the  Berlin 
Congress.  !(  Beaconsfield,"  said  the  Prince,  "  has 
a  fearful  Jewish  type  of  face."  The  Prince  said 
of  the  spectacled  Chinese  envoy  :  "He  looks  like 
the  matron  of  an  institute." 

In  1891  the  German  Emperor,  examples  of 
whose  relations  with  his  uncle,  King  Edward,  I 
have  previously  recorded,  told  Prince  Hohenlohe 
that  the  Queen  of  Denmark,  mother  of  Queen 


KING  EDWARD  IN  STORY  291 

Alexandra,  had  prevented  Alexander  in.  from 
going  to  Berlin.  "  To  make  sure  that  he  should 
not  come,  she  accompanied  him  to  Livadia  on  the 
pretext  of  attending  the  silver  wedding."  The 
Kaiser  said  of  the  late  Tsar,  Queen  Alexandra's 
brother-in-law  :  :t  I  only  write  ceremonial  letters 
to  him  now.  I  have  no  relations  with  him." 
The  Tsar  might  have  replied  with  a  "tu  quoque," 
but  he  was  too  much  of  a  gentleman  to  do  so. 

In  1859  the  Prince-author  of  all  these  "  blazing 
indiscretions  "  came  to  England  with  his  aunt, 
Princess  Feodora  of  Hohenlohe-Langenburg,  a 
step-daughter  of  the  Duke  of  Kent  (Queen  Victoria's 
father).  In  1869  Moltke  said  to  Prince  Hohenlohe  : 
"  France  will  not  start  a  war  without  Austria. 
The  French  are  not  so  stupid."  Moltke  was  a 
false  prophet.  The  Empress  Eugenie  knew  more 
about  what  was  going  to  happen  than  the  great 
strategist,  who  crushed  and  pulverised  France  a 
few  months  after  he  had  said  there  would  be  no 
war  "  without  Austria." 

The  present  Kaiser  and  the  leading  German 
personages  are  pilloried  in  these  scathing 
"  Memoirs,"  which  will  never  be  forgotten  (or 
forgiven)  by  William  n.  and  his  friends.  For  the 
world  at  large  the  "revelations  "  will  continue  to 
be  a  source  of  amusement  and  gossip  for  many 
years  to  come.  Here  and  there  Prince  Hohenlohe's 
facile  pen  may  have  slipped  ;  but  he  was  a  very 
careful,  painstaking  man,  with  a  wonderful 
memory,  and  he  jotted  down  all  he  had  heard 
daily  with  the  greatest  assiduity.  Professor 


292        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

Curtius  edited  the  "Memoirs"  for  Prince  Alex- 
ander, and  gave  the  diary  the  literary  touches  of 
which  it  stood  in  need.  In  1875,  when  Bismarck 
was  again  threatening  France,  he  complained  to 
the  late  Due  Decazes,  whose  son  died  in  1912, 
that  the  Vicomte  de  Gontaut,  then  French 
Ambassador  at  Berlin,  was  a  man  with  whom 
he  (Bismarck)  could  not  talk  openly.  "  Moreover, 
his  daughters  discuss  the  internal  affairs  of  the 
country  in  a  manner  which  is  unsuitable  for  the 
members  of  the  French  Ambassador's  family." 

Mr.  Smalley,  in  his  delightful  "  Anglo-American 
Memories,"  tells  a  story  of  King  Edward  lunching 
at  Mr.  Carnegie's,  Skibo  Castle.  The  host  wel- 
comed his  Royal  guest  by  reading  to  him  a  poem 
written  by  Joaquin  Miller l  for  Mr.  Carnegie's 
birthday.  In  the  verses  the  King  was  referred 
to  in  the  invocation,  "  Hail,  fat  Edward  !  "  Mr 
Carnegie  pleasantly  explained  to  the  King,  "  That's 
you,  sir  "  ;  and  Mr.  Smalley  adds,  "  The  King,  it 
was  said,  did  not  like  Mr.  Miller's  effusion." 

Addressing  audiences  in  Scotland  in  1890,  Mr. 
Carnegie  said  on  one  occasion  :  "  When  I  speak 
against  the  Royal  Family  I  do  not  condescend  to 
speak  of  the  creatures  who  form  the  Royal  Family 
— persons  are  so  insignificant.  You  know  how  to 
get  rid  of  a  Monarchy.  Brazil  has  taught  you."  2 

Edward   vn.    once   condescended   to   ask   Mr. 


1  The   Californian   bard,    "  The   Poet   of   the   Sierras,"   visited 
London  in  the  seventies,  and  was  duly  lionised  by  a  section  of  the 
literary  fraternity.     He  died  in  1913. 

2  "  Punch,"  September  20,  1890. 


KING  EDWARD  IN  STORY  293 

Andrew  Carnegie  to  subscribe  to  his  Hospital 
Fund.  The  request  was  refused.  The  King  was 
very  angry,  and  spoke  of  it  at  the  time  as  an 
uncalled-for  impertinence ;  later,  however,  His 
Majesty  again  took  into  favour  the  millionaire 
who  has  uselessly  lavished  his  money  upon  the 
foundation  of  public  libraries  which,  in  many 
cases,  only  minister  to  the  gratification  of  the  genus 
"  loafer."  That  it  is  deemed  necessary  to  fasten 
the  periodicals  to  the  desks  by  substantial  chains 
is  a  pleasing  example  of  the  confidence  which  is 
felt  in  the  honesty  of  Mr.  Carnegie's  readers. 

On  Christmas  Eve,   1912,  there  passed  away 
the  artist,  Edouard  Detaille,  to  whom  King  Edward 
had  shown  great  friendship  for  more  than  thirty 
years.     Their  acquaintance  was  formed  one  even- 
ing (March  8,  1878)  at  the  "  Figaro  "  office.     The 
Prince  of  Wales  had  been  to  the  Vaudeville  to  see 
'  Les    Bourgeois    de    Pont-Arcy,"    by    the    late 
Victorien  Sardou,   another  of  the  Parisian  nota- 
bilities whom,  both  as  Prince  and  as  Sovereign, 
King   Edward   much   esteemed   and   admired   for 
his   talents    and    his    witty    conversation.     (King 
George  and  Queen  Mary,  as  Prince  and  Princess, 
met  Detaille  and  Sardou  at  dinner  in  Paris,  and 
were  delighted  with  the  flow  of  humour  of  the  two 
best  talkers  in  the  French  capital.) 

The  Prince  of  Wales  of  1878  wished  to  see  the 
printing  of  the  great  Paris  (t  daily,"  and  was 
escorted  to  the  Rue  Drouot  by  the  Marquis  de  Lau, 
Charles  Bocher  (whose  sister  Napoleon  in.,  in  his 
early  days,  thought  he  would  like  to  marry — but 


294       MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

that     was     years     before     he     was    dazzled    by 
Mademoiselle  de  Montijo),  Comte  Halley-Claparede, 
and   Baron   Seilliere.     Our   Prince   found   at   the 
"  Figaro  "  office  Sardou  (whom  H.R.H.  had  pre- 
viously complimented  on  his  play),  M.  Gondinet 
(another  literary  man  appreciated  by  the  Prince, 
who  had  a  large  acquaintance  with  French  writers), 
Detaille ;    that  other  famous  artist,  De  Neuville 
(painter  of  "  Le  Dernier  Cartouche  ") ;    and  Mr. 
(otherwise    "  Doctor ")    Thomas    W.    Evans,    the 
American    dentist    who   got   the    Empress    safely 
to  the  coast,  after  she  had  fled  from  the  Tuileries 
on   September   4,    1870,    and   who   at   Woolwich, 
seven    years    later,    formally    "  recognised "    the 
body  of  the  Prince  Imperial  by  the  gold-filling  in 
one  of  the  young  hero's  teeth.     De  Villemessant, 
the  founder  of  the  "  Figaro,"  was  ill,  so  the  then 
editor,  Francis  Magnard,  did  the  honours.  Magnard 
picked  up  a  just-printed  copy  of  the  paper  and 
handed  it  to  the  Prince,  who  read  in  large  letters 
under  the  title  these  flattering  words,  in  English  : 

To  his  Royal  Highness  the  Prince  of  Wales,— 
"  Figaro  "  begs  leave  to  thank  most  heartily  the 
Prince  of  Wales  for  the  great  honour  which  his 
Royal  Highness  has  conferred  upon  the  journal 
by  his  gracious  visit.  The  contributors  to 
"  Figaro "  and  the  printers  of  the  paper  take 
advantage  of  this  opportunity  to  tender  their  best 
wishes  for  the  future  happiness  of  the  illustrious 
guest,  whose  presence  has  given  lasting  honour  to 
their  literary  home.  They  invoke  upon  his 
Princely  head  all  the  blessings  that  the  heir  to  the 
Crown  of  England  so  well  deserves. 


KING  EDWARD  IN  STORY  295 

The  Prince,  much  touched  by  this  graceful 
tribute,  printed  in  his  mother-tongue,  carefully 
perused  it,  not  allowing  himself  the  luxury  of  a 
smile  at  a  most  comical  misprint  (only  one)  over 
which,  later,  he  must  have  heartily  laughed. 
(I  have  corrected  the  error.) 

All  the  party  then  mounted  to  the  first  floor, 
followed  by  the  gaze  of  the  printers  from  the  fore- 
man down  to  the  beady-eyed  little  "  devils."  On 
the  stairs  were  heaps  of  flowers,  plants,  and 
wreaths ;  but  something  more  durable  than  these 
was  to  come.  The  words  of  the  "  address  "  had 
been  hurriedly  printed  on  a  sheet  of  parchment, 
and  "  illustrated  "  by  Detaille  and  De  Neuville. 
The  first-named  had  drawn  on  it  an  English 
Horse  Guard ;  the  second,  a  French  soldier, 
symbolical  of  the  mutual  sympathy  of  the  two 
countries.  It  was  the  avant  garde  of  that 
"  entente  "  with  which  Edward  the  Great's  name 
will  be  always  associated,  let  the  carpers  say  what 
they  will  to  the  contrary.  And  the  international 
sympathy,  the  bond  of  union,  as  all  could  see 
for  themselves  that  night,  was  emphasised  by  the 
two  orders  proudly  worn  by  the  Prince — the 
Legion  d'Honneur  and  the  Medaille  Militaire  (the 
latter  given  him  by  his  devoted  friend,  Napoleon 
in.).  Below  their  charming  drawings  and  their 
signatures  the  artists  wrote  :  "  Hotel  du  Figaro, 
8  mars,  minuit."  Detaille's  spacious  studio  was 
open  to  visitors  once  a  week.  King  Edward,  as  a 
"  distinguished  foreigner,"  could  (so  the  writer 
of  "Truth's"  Paris  Notes  has  told  us)  look  in 


296        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

whenever  he  liked,  and  he  often  did  himself 
that  pleasure,  for  he  enjoyed  the  delicate  sarcasm 
of  the  painter,  his  pointed  chit-chat,  and  his 
Parisian  tact  and  practical  philosophy. 

In  1888  the  Prince  and  Princess  of  Wales 
expressed  their  willingness  to  reside  for  a  portion 
of  every  year  in  Ireland  ;  and  in  the  autumn  of 
1889  Sir  Richard  Webster,  the  Attorney-General 
(the  Lord  Alverstone  of  to-day),  in  one  of  his 
speeches  hinted  that  the  Government  might  con- 
sent to  introduce  a  Home  Rule  Bill  framed  to  meet 
the  views  of  the  Irish  Nationalists.  This  intima- 
tion by  a  member  of  Lord  Salisbury's  Government 
was  much  ridiculed  by  the  Radical  papers  ;  but  I 
believe  Lord  Alverstone  was  speaking  from  his 
brief,  and  that  there  was  a  probability  that  a  Tory 
Home  Rule  Bill  would  be  introduced.  Colour  was 
given  to  this  belief  in  1912  by  Mr.  Swift  MacNeill, 
K.C.,  M.P.,  who,  at  Letterkenny,  Co.  Donegal, 
said  that  few  of  the  Tory  leaders  were  in  their 
hearts  opposed  to  Home  Rule,  and  that  Lord 
Beaconsfield  was  personally  a  Home  Ruler.  He 
quoted  the  following  passage  from  a  speech  of 
Lord  Rosebery's  at  Scarborough  on  January  24, 
1889  :  "  Mr.  Pierrepoint,  who  was  United  States 
Ambassador  in  England  about  1877,  has  lately 
contributed  an  article  to  an  American  magazine 
which  is  well  worthy  of  your  attention.  He  said 
that  in  1877  he  had  a  conversation  with  Lord 
Beaconsfield  relative  to  the  affairs  of  Ireland.  He 
said  it  was  so  important  that  he  made  copious 
extracts  from  it  in  his  diary  that  very  day,  and  I 


KING  EDWARD  IN  STORY  297 

will  venture  to  give  you  one  or  two  of  these  extracts  : 
4 1  asked  him,'  said  Mr.  Pierrepoint,  c  if  he  had  anv 
plan  for  the  better  government  of  Ireland.  He 
said  in  reply  that  he  had  no  perfect  plan,  but  a 
general  idea  that  if  he  had  to  deal  with  the  situa- 
tion he  would  propose  to  place  Ireland  in  a  similar 
position  that  New  York  held  in  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment.' That  is  pure  Home  Rule."  "Of  that 
conversation,"  said  Lord  Rosebery,  "  I  knew 
some  time  ago,  but  I  knew  of  it  in  a  way  that  did 
not  allow  me  to  quote  it  in  public,  but  Mr,  Pierre- 
point  is  a  man  of  undoubted  veracity.  You  may 
take  it  for  granted  that  every  word  and  syllable 
of  that  conversation  is  correct." 

Now  1  that  the  papers  are  titillating  the  palates 
of  millions  by  predictions  of  civil  war  if  Home 
Rule  is  sanctioned  by  the  Crown,  the  history  of 
the  period  when  the  Prince  and  Princess  of  Wales 
avowed  their  willingness  to  occupy  the  Viceregal 
Throne,  until  now  a  solemn  sham,  should  have 
more  than  a  fleeting  interest.  As  bearing  upon  this 
point  I  may  quote  a  few  lines  from  Mr.  Blunt 's 
able  volume  * : 

Dined  with  Lady  C.  She  is  to  see  the  Prince 
of  Wales  to-morrow,  and  will  give  him  my  message 
about  his  tour  in  Ireland.  She  says  he  is  more 
liberal  about  Home  Rule  than  most  of  them.  .  .  . 
(The  message,  it  is  added,  pleased  the  Prince 
immensely,  for)  in  spite  of  his  aristocratic  en- 

1 1913- 

"The   Land   War  in   Ireland."     By   Wilfrid   Scawen   Blunt 
Swift  &Co.,  1912. 


298        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

tourage  there  is  a  strong  element  of  Bohemianism 
in  the  Prince,  and  a  love  of  popularity  in  any  form. 


Mr.  Blunt's  book  is  a  propos,  with  its  piquant 
"  bits  "  about  Edward  vn.,  and  I  commend  to  the 
talented  author's  attention  the  chapter,  "  The 
Home  Rulers  of  Marlborough  House,"  in  my 
previous  volume. 

In  the  "  Edwardian  Number  "  of  the  "  Smart 
Set,"  Mr.  W.  J.  Thorold  wrote  very  appreciatively 
of  "  Edward  vn. — Emperor."  The  Edwardian 
Empire  Mr.  Thorold  regarded  as  an  unprecedented 
example  of  the  power  of  personality.  This 
magnificent  confederacy  of  kingdoms,  dominions, 
colonies,  and  protectorates  has  one  great  force 
that  binds  them  into  one  Imperial  Union.  The 
Australian  sheep- owner,  the  Dutch  farmer,  the 
French- Canadian  riverman,  the  Sikh  soldier,  and 
innumerable  others  have  little  else  in  common, 
but  each  one  regards  himself  as  a  personal  subject 
of  the  King.  In  his  mind,  just  as  in  the  mind  of  a 
dweller  in  Whitechapel  or  Mayfair,  Edward  vu. 
was  the  King — and  for  him  that  expressed  all. 
But,  personal  as  it  was,  the  Sovereign  was  building 
his  Empire  to  endure — for  his  house  and  for  his 
country.  Nevertheless,  "the  keystone  of  the 
British  Empire  was  Edward  vu."  Mr.  Thorold 
is  to  be  highly  commended  for  his  delightful  and 
accurate  appreciation  of  our  late  Sovereign. 

The  life  of  King  Edward,  Mr.  F.  C.  Lambert, 
M.A.,  F.R.P.S.,  tells  us,  was  practically  coeval 
with  present-day  photography.  It  was  in  1840 


KING  EDWARD  IN  STORY  299 

that  Herschel  introduced  the  terms  "positive  "  and 
"negative"  in  the  sense  we  now  use  them  photo- 
graphically. And  the  following  year,  in  which 
King  Edward  was  born,  is  memorable  in  photo- 
graphic history  for  the  introduction  of  the  Petzval 
lens,  and  perfecting  of  Talbot's  calotype  or 
paper  negative  process.  Examples  of  these 
negatives  were  shown  at  the  Royal  Photographic 
Society  not  long  before  the  King's  death.  This 
society  wras  greatly  honoured  by  having  King 
Edward  and  Queen  Alexandra  as  its  patrons. 

King  Edward  had  been  taught  from  his  earliest 
years  to  be  considerate  to  those  who  served  him, 
and  he  never  forgot  the  welfare  of  an  old  servitor. 
Mr.  Crosby  Smith  relates  that,  at  one  of  the  balls 
which  he  and  the  Princess  of  Wales  gave  at  Aber- 
geldie  Castle  to  their  tenants  and  ghillies,  he 
missed  from  the  gathering  an  old  gamekeeper 
whom  he  had  known  from  the  time  he  was  a  boy. 
c  \Vhere  is  he  ?  "  the  Prince  anxiously  asked,  and 
heard  that  the  old  man  had  not  dared  to  come,  as 
he  had  recently  fallen  under  Royal  displeasure. 
"  This  will  never  do,"  said  the  Prince.  "  I  have 
never  known  a  ball  without  him."  He  ordered 
a  dog-cart  to  be  prepared,  and  drove  off  to  the  old 
man's  cottage.  The  wife  answered  the  Prince's 
knock,  informing  him  that  her  husband  had  gone 
to  bed.  "  W^ell,  tell  him  to  make  haste  and  get 
ready,  for  I  am  waiting  to  drive  him  to  the  ball !  '! 

It  has  been  said  that  King  Edward  believed 
that  misfortune  would  happen  to  him  if  two 
knives  were  allowed  to  lie  on  the  table  before  him 


300       MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

at  the  same  time,  and,  in  consequence,  no  guests 
were  served  with  more  than  one  knife  at  a  time. 

When  King  Edward  succeeded  his  mother  he 
discharged  a  number  of  servants  who  had  lived 
in  clover  during  the  Victorian  period  ;  and  among 
them  was  Archibald,  the  younger  brother  of  the 
too-celebrated  John  Brown.  The  King  pensioned 
Archibald,  who  died  at  Windsor  at  the  end  of 
1912.  John  was  a  wealthy  man,  and  it  cannot  be 
said  of  his  brother  that  he  was  exactly  a  pauper, 
for,  as  one  of  the  Queen's  pages,  many  good  things 
fell  to  his  lot. 

In  the  spring  of  1912  the  likelihood  of  an 
alliance  between  the  Prince  of  Wales  and  the  young 
Grand  Duchess  of  Luxemburg  "  went  the  rounds  "  ! 
This  was  too  absurd  to  call  for  an  official  denial. 
Such  an  alliance,  were  it  conceivable,  which  it  is 
not,  could  not  be  otherwise  than  gratifying  to 
the  Luxemburgers,  who  at  the  moment  were  justifi- 
ably indignant  that  certain  pan-Germanic  papers 
were  advocating  the  wisdom  of  some  German 
Prince  securing  the  hand  of  the  Grand  Duchess, 
"  which  would  assure  the  political  incorporation 
— sooner  or  later  inevitable — of  the  Grand  Duchy 
with  the  German  Federal  Empire."  The  pan- 
Germanic  journals  are  seemingly  unaware  of  the 
fact  that  the  political  independence  of  Luxemburg 
was  guaranteed  by  the  Powers  which  signed  the 
Treaty  of  London  ;  so  that  only  a  great  European 
war,  ending  in  a  reconstruction  of  the  map,  could 
render  the  annexation  of  Luxemburg  possible. 

No  Russian  Ambassador  to  the   Court  of  St. 


KING  EDWARD  IN  STORY  301 

James  has  ever  been  as  popular  in  English  society 
as  the  present  holder  of  the  post.  Count  Bencken- 
dorff  had  in  King  Edward  a  very  dear  friend,  and 
Madame  1'  Ambassadrice  and  her  charming  daughter 
were,  and  are,  favourites  in  the  Royal  circle. 
The  gratifying  relations  which  exist  between  the 
two  Governments  are  directly  traceable  to  King 
Edward  and  the  diplomatic  representative  of 
Russia  at  our  Court.  That  Count  Benckendorff 
may  long  continue  to  hold  the  position  in  London 
which  he  has  filled  with  so  much  success,  and  with 
such  conspicuous  advantage  to  the  two  countries, 
is  the  earnest  hope  of  all  who  recognise  the  vital 
necessity  of  a  close  and  permanent  friendship 
between  Russia  and  Great  Britain. 

Having,  in  rather  forcible  terms,  lectured  King 
Edward  for  daring  to  be  at  Biarritz  at  a  moment 
when,  to  the  national  regret,  it  had  become 
necessary  to  reconstruct  the  Cabinet,  the  "  Times," 
in  May  1908,  allowed  some  one  to  bestow  his 
polite  attentions  on  the  then  Heir- Apparent,  who, 
according  to  the  correspondent  ("  One  of  the 
Crowd  "),  was  responsible  for  the  suppression  of 
the  speeches  at  the  Royal  Academy  dinner.  What 
is  the  reason,  asked  the  writer  of  the  letter,  for  the 
omission  of  the  speeches  on  Friday  evening  ? 

And  he  replied  : 


Not,  certainly,  the  wishes  of  the  Academicians, 
who  are  well  aware  of  the  importance  which  the 
speeches  at  the  banquet  have  each  year  added  to 
their  exhibition.  It  is  said,  on  what  seems  to  be 
good  authority,  that  the  suppression  of  the  speeches 


302        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

was  suggested,  or  commanded,  by  the  Royal  head 
and  patron  of  the  Academy,  who,  however  un- 
willing he  may  have  been  to  interfere  with  an  old 
and  honoured  custom,  yielded  to  the  wish  of  an 
illustrious  member  of  his  house,  tired  of  having 
annually  to  reply  to  the  toast  of  his  health.  It 
might  have  been  thought  that  if  His  Majesty 
when  Prince  of  Wales  replied  to  that  toast  year 
after  year  with  assiduity  and  obvious  pleasure,  the 
Royal  personage  in  question  [King  George],  who 
is  an  excellent  speaker,  might  willingly  have  done 
the  same.  Such  an  exertion  is  a  tax,  no  doubt, 
but  most  of  us  have  to  perform  even  more  ex- 
hausting duties,  without  the  compensations  that 
fall  to  the  lot  of  Princes.  I  feel  sure  that  your 
readers  will  unanimously  agree  with  me  in  hoping 
that  next  year  the  old  custom  may  be  revived— 
perhaps  with  a  shortened  toast  list,  and  a  hint  to 
the  speakers  to  be  brief,  and  to  avoid  boring  their 
audience,  Royal  and  other. 

Most  readers  of  the  "  Times,"  I  fancy,  felt 
grateful  to  King  Edward  and  his  son  for  their 
share  (if  any)  in  abolishing,  for  once,  the  speeches 
which  for  so  many  years  filled  the  columns  of  that 
journal  to  the  exclusion  of  more  interesting  matter  ; 
while  the  various  more  or  less  talented  personages 
who,  year  after  year,  were  bidden  to  make 
oratorical  bricks  with  only  a  modicum  of  straw, 
must  have  hailed  the  innovation  with  unmitigated 
delight. 

The  special  epochs  in  King  Edward's  life  were 
overshadowed  by  trouble.  His  coming  of  age 
festivities  had  to  be  abandoned  owing  to  his 
father's  death  ;  his  marriage  was  celebrated  in 


KING  EDWARD  IN  STORY  303 

the  quietest  possible  way  for  the  same  reason  ; 
the  anniversary  of  his  silver  wedding  was  saddened 
by  the  death  of  the  Emperor  William  i.  and  by 
anxiety  about  the  Emperor  Frederick  and  his 
much-loved  sister  and  companion  ;  and  his  fiftieth 
birthday,  which  had  been  looked  forward  to,  not 
only  by  the  tenants,  but  by  the  county  generally, 
was  overcast  with  gloom  by  the  calamity  which 
virtually  deprived  the  Prince  and  Princess  of  their 
Norfolk  home  for  many  months.  After  the  King's 
death  Queen  Alexandra  sustained  blow  upon  blow. 
The  Golden  Wedding  Day  (March  10,  1913)  was 
spent  in  the  strictest  privacy.  A  week  later — 
March  18 — her  second  brother,  the  King  of  the 
Hellenes,  was  assassinated  by  a  socialist  at  Salonika 
at  the  moment  of  the  triumph  of  his  army. 

One  of  King  Edward's  most  extraordinary 
experiences  (and  they  were  many)  was  connected 
with  his  brother-in-law,  the  Grand  Duke  Louis 
of  Hesse,  who  died  in  March  1892.  Before  his 
wife,  the  lamented  Princess  Alice,  came  to  her 
untimely  end  in  1878,1  Queen  Victoria  had  no 
more  beloved  son-in-law.  The  Duke  was  born  in 
1837,  and  succeeded  his  uncle,  Louis  in.,  in  1877. 
As  the  husband  of  the  child  whom  the  Royal 
parent  may  be  said  to  have  more  deeply  cherished 
than  any  of  her  other  daughters,  the  Duke  held 
a  place  in  the  heart  of  his  august  mother-in- 
law  from  which  no  act  of  his  ever  ejected  him. 
The  nature  of  Prince  Louis  was  an  erring  but 
an  infinitely  sweet  one.  Affectionate,  generous 

1  Vide  Miss  Probyn's  poem,  Chap.  XI. 


304       MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

to  a  fault,  and  sympathetic,  those  who  were  near 
his  person  loved  the  man  for  himself.  Probably 
there  never  was  a  Ruler  who  was  more  delightfully 
amiable.  Though  his  disposition  may  be  said  to 
have  been  weak,  there  were  occasions  when  his 
apparent  infirmity  of  will  was  converted  into  a 
stubbornness  nearly  heroic.  In  the  war  of  1866, 
in  defiance  of  the  arguments  of  his  relatives,  he 
espoused  the  cause  of  Austria  against  that  of 
Prussia.  When  the  Prussian  arms  triumphed, 
Louis  was  treated  with  no  harsh  hand  by  King 
William,  who  in  1870-71  found  in  the  Grand  Duke, 
who  commanded  the  Hessian  infantry,  a  zealous 
General,  whom  the  Prussian  Monarch  specially 
thanked  for  his  able  services  in  the  field. 

Probably  the  Grand  Duke  would  have  descended 
to  the  tomb  as  a  pattern  of  domestic  virtue  (for 
he  was  a  devoted  husband  as  the  consort  of  Princess 
Alice,  and  an  exemplary  father)  had  he  not  been 
of  a  too  susceptible  nature.  It  was  the  lot  of  this 
gentle  and  sincere  Prince  to  become  the  victim 
of  a  woman's  wiles.  Not  many  years  after  the 
death  of  his  wife,  he  fell  into  the  toils  of  a  lady 
whose  blandishments,  beauty,  and  cunning  brought 
him  to  her  feet.  She  was  the  widow  of  the  former 
Russian  Attache  to  the  Court  of  Hesse  Darmstadt, 
and  though  she  lacked  high  station  she  commanded 
charms  which  have  brought  other  illustrious 
individuals  to  love  captivity.  Aghast  at  the 
prospective  union  of  her  son-in-law  with  '  the 
Kolemine,"  Queen  Victoria  sent  the  Prince  of 
Wales  and  his  niece,  Princess  Victoria  of  Hesse, 


KING  EDWARD  IN  STORY  805 

to  endeavour  to  reason  the  lady  out  of  her  inten- 
tion, and  to  tell  her  that  it  would  be  a  mesalliance. 
They  found  that  they  had  caught  a  Tartar.  She 
had  a  bitter  tongue,  and  horrified  the  Prince  by 
replying  that  "  it  would  be  no  more  of  am  esalliance 
than  was  the  Queen's  marriage  to  John  Brown." 
Princess  Victoria  had  been  at  first  in  favour  of 
her  father's  second  marriage,  believing  that  it 
would  give  her  more  influence  over  him  ;  but  she 
soon  changed  her  mind  and  supported  her  Uncle 
Edward's  protest.  What  was  so  remarkable  in 
the  case  of  the  Grand  Duke  was  the  fact  that  he 
married  Madame  de  Kolemine  a  few  hours  after 
the  marriage  of  his  daughter  to  Prince  Louis  of 
Battenberg  —  married  her  in  the  Grand  Ducal 
Palace,  where  Queen  Victoria,  the  Prince  of  Wales, 
and  other  illustrious  guests  were  being  entertained  ! 
There  must  have  been  a  spice  of  devilry  in  the 
lady  choosing  that  time  for  the  performance  of 
the  ceremony — a  secret  one,  conducted  in  a  room 
not  far  distant  from  the  chambers  tenanted  by 
the  Grand  Duke's  august  guests. 

There  are  periods  in  the  lives  of  most  persons 
when  acts  are  committed  which  seem  only  account- 
able on  the  ground  of  insanity.  Hitherto  the 
Grand  Duke  had  afforded  no  evidence  of  madness. 
Either  he  was  demented,  or  some  conspiracy  of 
circumstances  must  have  arisen  to  have  forced 
him  into  a  marriage  which,  from  what  occurred 
afterwards,  appeared  not  to  have  had  the  warrant 
of  a  dominating  passion.  The  delightful  lady, 
after  being  a  bride  only  a  few  hours,  found  herself 

20 


306        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

turned  out  of  the  Palace  over  which  she  had 
calculated  she  was  going  to  reign  for  the  rest  of 
her  life.  She  was  forcibly  ejected,  her  Royal 
husband — the  most  tender-hearted  of  men — staying 
behind  !  I  suppose  a  time  will  come  when  all  the 
particulars  concerning  the  skeleton  in  the  cup- 
board of  the  Ducal  Palace  of  Hesse  Darmstadt 
will  be  made  known.  The  story,  which  was  told 
in  the  European  Press  at  the  time,  is  full  of  in- 
cidents which  go  to  prove  that  Princes  are  only 
like  ordinary  mortals  when  brought  under  the 
influence  of  charming  women. 

On  one  of  his  visits  to  Berlin,  King  Edward 
made  as  lavish  a  distribution  of  decorations  as 
Queen  Victoria  once  made  in  Dublin ;  and  as  his 
train  was  about  to  leave  the  station  he  sank  back 
exhausted.  At  that  moment  a  functionary  who 
had  been  forgotten — there  were  so  many  of  these 
pushful  persons  to  be  "  remembered  " — rushed 
up  to  the  window  of  the  Royal  carriage  and  ad- 
dressed His  Majesty  in  gasping  terms.  As  the 
King  returned  to  his  seat,  free,  at  last,  from  the 
grasping  Teutons,  Lord  Marcus  Beresford  said  : 
"What  did  that  chap  want,  sir?"  "Oh!  a 
decoration,  of  course ! "  "  And  what  did  you 
give  him,  sir  ?  "  "  The  Victorian  Order,"  replied 
His  Majesty,  with  one  of  his  enigmatical  smiles. 
"  And  served  him  jolly  well  right !  "  said  Lord 
Marcus,  who  was  as  licensed  a  joker  as  "  Billy 
Russell  and  one  or  two  others. 

Mr.   Louis  Sterne,   an  engineer  and  inventor, 
and   a  friend   of   Charles  Dickens,    showed   King 


KING  EDWARD  IN  STORY  307 

Edward,  when  Prince  of  Wales,  his  exhibits  at 
South  Kensington  and  the  Crystal  Palace.  "  The 
next  time  I  met  the  Prince,"  says  Mr.  Sterne,  "  I 
was  crossing  Piccadilly,  at  the  top  of  St.  James' 
Street,  before  the  days  of  refuges.  In  trying  to 
escape  being  run  down,  I  ran  directly  into  the 
arms  of  His  Royal  Highness.  He  at  once  recog- 
nised me,  and  said  :  '  Mr.  Sterne,  you  should  give 
this  traffic  time,  and  never  cross  the  bows.'  I 
expressed  surprise  that  he  should  recognise  me,  to 
which  he  replied  that  he  never  forgot  either  face 
or  name  if  associated  with  any  matter  of  interest." 
Mr.  Sterne  met  the  Prince  again  at  a  picture 
exhibition,  where  a  portrait  of  the  late  eminent 
statesman,  Mr.  W.  H.  Smith,  was  hung.  Turning 
to  the  Princess,  His  Royal  Highness  said,  "  Hullo ! 
there's  Smith."  At  once  a  man  standing  near 
turned  round  and  acknowledged  the  recognition, 
offering  his  hand,  which  the  Prince  unhesitatingly 
accepted.  When  this  man,  whose  name  happened 
to  be  Smith,  recognised  the  Prince,  he  became 
embarrassed  .  .  .  and  with  the  lady  who  accom- 
panied him  made  his  exit  as  soon  as  possible. 

Mr.  Horatio  Bottomley,  whose  fondest  wish  is 
to  see  a  "  business  Government,"  deserves  the 
cordial  thanks  of  all  loyalists  for  recording  this 
amusing  story  in  his  widely- circulated  popular 
paper,  "  John  Bull  "  : 

We  were  present  at  a  big  demonstration  in 
Hyde  Park  some  years  ago.  We  forget  exactly 
what  it  was  that  had  brought  us  together — but 
there  we  were,  in  orthodox  fashion,  proclaiming 


308        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

the  inviolable  rights  of  the  sovereign  people  and 
declaiming  against  the  "  classes  "  whose  privilege 
and  power  we  were  impeaching  to  the  acclamation 
of  the  horny-handed  sons  of  toil  around  us.  We 
remember  that  one  very  enthusiastic  and  quasi- 
socialistic  Radical  was  addressing  the  throng. 
"  Why  should  they  be  down-trodden  ?  Why 
should  they  not  be  free  ?  Why  should  kings,  and 
queens,  and  princes,  and  huge  standing  armies 
absorb  the  product  of  their  labour  ? ?:  Such 
were  the  questions  he  was  asking,  receiving 
"  throbbing  bosoms  for  reply,"  when  of  a  sudden 
a  wild  cheer  rent  the  air  ;  hats  and  handkerchiefs 
were  waved,  and  a  general  stampede  was  made 
towards  the  roadway.  The  orator  paused  in  amaze- 
ment. What  did  it  all  mean  ?  Had  Bradlaugh, 
or  Burns,  or  Labouchere  arrived  ?  Had  revolu- 
tion broken  out,  and  were  the  infuriated  mob 
making  for  Buckingham  Palace  ?  Whatever  the 
cause,  there  we  were,  left  all  in  a  moment  without 
an  audience.  It  was  the  Prince  of  Wales  and  the 
Duke  of  Cambridge  passing  on  their  way  to  Rotten 
Row! 

Lady  Middleton,  joining  in  the  discussion  in 
the  "Times"  (June  1913)  on  the  "Tango," 
"  Turkey  Trot,"  and  other  negroid  dances,  was 
thus  amusingly  reminiscent  of  (inter  alia)  King 
Edward  :  "I  once  in  early  days  found  myself 
vis-a-vis  to  a  very  great  personage,  who  was  quite 
resolved  to  keep  the  ground  and  chase  away  my 
cavalier.  After  flying  round  the  room — a  big 
one — at  least  twice — racing  pace,  despite  much 
interference — at  the  bottom  I  ventured,  panting, 
to  say,  '  I  am  done,  sir  ! '  No  lady  being  brave 


KING  EDWARD  IN  STORY  809 

enough  to  come  to  my  aid  (though  I  glanced 
appeal  at  several  friends  looking  on)  and  take 
possession  of  the  future  Monarch,  his  pitiless  com- 
mand, c  Go  up  to  the  top  of  the  room  again,'  had 
to  be  obeyed.  We  both  took  a  vast  amount  of 
exercise  that  evening.  I  can  imagine  the  above 
dance  executed  by  roughs,  when,  of  course,  it 
could  be  made  unsuitable  for  c  civil '  society." 

King  Edward  and  Prince  Tassilo  Festetics  were 
great  friends,  and  in  1913  the  Prince  very  kindly 
gave  me  the  facts  of  the  King's  visits  to  him.  "  As 
Prince  of  Wales  His  Majesty  visited  me  three  times ; 
once  at  Keszthely  and  twice  at  Berzencze,  each 
time  for  stag-hunting.  He  had  bear-hunting  in 
Transylvania  and  in  Slavonia  with  the  Archduke 
Rudolf,  who  was  also  present  at  Berzencze.  Among 
the  guests  invited  by  me  to  meet  the  then  Prince 
of  Wales  was  Prince  Kinsky,  wrho  was  a  particular 
friend  of  King  Edward.  Lord  Savile  was  another 
guest.  The  King,"  added  Prince  Tassilo,  "  was 
so  tactful,  so  kind  to  all,  and  a  friend  to  all  his 
friends." 

Madame  de  Thebes,  the  prophetess,  tells  this 
story  : 

The  late  King  Edward  often  came  to  see  me, 
and  on  one  occasion  De  Blowitz  was  with  him.  It 
was  then  that  the  Prince  of  Wales — as  he  then 
was — told  me  of  a  visit  that  he  had  paid  to  a 
fortune-teller.  The  Prince  appeared  very  con- 
cerned as  to  his  health,  for  it  had  been  revealed  to 
him  that  he  would  never  live  to  be  King.  "  I  will 
prove  that  woman's  prophecy  incorrect,"  said 


310        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

His  Royal  Highness.  It  was  then  that  I  told  the 
heir  to  the  English  throne  that,  although  he  would 
reign,  he  would  have  to  be  very  careful  of  an  in- 
ternal malady  that  would  otherwise  "  carry  him 
off."  The  prisoner  that  foretold  the  death  of 
Belshazzar  was  no  less  accurate,  you  see ;  for 
Edward  vn.  might  have  been  alive  to-day  had  he 
heeded  my  warning. 

In  "  King  Edward  in  his  True  Colours "  I 
exposed  on  authority  the  person  who  masquerades 
under  the  self -conferred  title  of  "  Prince  John  de 
Guelph."  He  claimed,  in  his  preposterous  book, 
to  be  a  son  of  King  Edward !  Any  crossing- 
sweeper  might  make  a  similar  assertion.  We  need 
not,  therefore,  be  surprised  at  hearing  that  "  Prince 
John's  "  lead  has  now  been  followed  by  another 
crack-brain,  one  Henry  Holder  Colpus ;  both 
might  take  warning  by  the  fate  of  the  felon 
Mylius,  the  libeller  of  King  George.  The  "  New 
York  Times,"1  whose  very  generous  appreciation 
of  my  recent  volume  I  highly  value,  gives  this 
account  of  Mr.  Colpus : 

Henry  Holder  Colpus,  who  claims  to  be  a 
natural  son  of  the  late  King  Edward  of  England 
and  half-brother  of  King  George  v.,  is  to  be  married 
here  to-morrow  to  Mrs.  Mary  A.  McGill,  a  wealthy 
Chicopee  widow  of  71. 

Colpus,  describing  himself  as  of  the  house  of 
Hanover  and  Guelph  and  Saxe-Coburg  de  Gotha 
Wettin  and  son  of  Eliza  Elsa  Holden,  says  he  is 
consequently  entitled  to  be  called  "  Prince  Henry 
of  Guelph."  He  is  pressing  his  claim  for  recogni- 

1  March  23,  1913. 


KING  EDWARD  IN  STORY  311 

tion  by  his  half-brother,  King  George  v.,  through 
Crawford  Elliot,  a  Chicago  lawyer  who  is  now  in 
England  with  the  papers,  which,  he  says,  include 
letters  from  the  Royal  Family  admitting  his  claim.1 

"  My  mother,"  says  Colpus,  :( was  a  young 
widow.  On  June  15,  1862,  she  was  on  her  way  to 
the  Ascot  races.  She  was  passing  through  Windsor 
Park  alone  when  she  met  the  young  Prince.  He 
had  reached  England  the  day  before  from  a  tour 
of  the  Holy  Land.  The  Prince  fell  in  love  with  her 
at  first  sight.  She  did  not  go  to  the  races  at  all. 
He  took  her  away. 

'  My  mother  was  a  Quakeress,  and  she  felt 
that  it  was  a  spiritual  marriage.  But  the  time 
came  when  he  told  her  he  could  not  acknowledge 
her  as  his  wife,  because  he  was  the  Prince  of  Wales. 
She  wept,  and  he  gave  her  a  handkerchief  to  wipe 
away  her  tears." 

Colpus  produced  a  handkerchief,  which  had  a 
border  design  of  four-leaf  shamrocks.  He  said 
it  was  preserved  for  him  by  the  Shaker  colony  at 
Mount  Lebanon,  of  which  he  was  a  member. 

'  My  mother  went  back  to  her  father,"  he  con- 
tinued, "  but  though  he  was  a  proud  old  man,  he 
told  her  he  would  support  the  child.  I  was  born 
at  Farncombe,  Surrey,  March  10,  1863.  Dr. 
William  Jenner  Parsons,  nephew  of  Sir  William 
Jenner,  was  present  at  my  birth.  The  day  I  was 
born  was  the  day  Edward  married  Alexandra. 
My  mother  died  May  6,  1910,  the  day  King  Edward 
died." 


A  well-known  photographer  says  : 
'  The  late  King  Edward,  whom  I  took  many 


1  Mr.  Colpus  here  "  goes  one  better  "   than    "  Prince  John   de 
Guelph." 


312        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

times,  was  one  of  the  best  sitters  in  the  world.  He 
always  greeted  me  as  an  old  friend,  and  put  me 
completely  at  my  ease  with  a  cordial  handshake. 
So  simple  and  unaffected  was  he  that  more  than 
once  I  forgot  whom  I  was  speaking  to.  '  I  beg 
your  Royal  Highness's  pardon '  (he  was  the 
Prince  of  Wales  then),  I  once  said,  when  I  feared 
I  had  been  a  little  too  familiar.  '  Oh,  that's  all 

right,  Mr.  ,'  he  said  with  a  smile  ;    '  we  are 

quite  old  friends,  you  know,  and  can  dispense 
with  formalities.'  Wasn't  it  charming  of  him  ?  ': 

He  was  always  keenly  interested  in  the  photo- 
graphs of  his  beautiful  wife — much  more  than  in 
his  own — and  liked  to  superintend  the  sittings. 
Once  Her  Majesty  playfully  ordered  him  out  of  the 
room  (it  was  at  Sandringham),  as  she  declared  she 
could  not  compose  herself  while  he  was  "  fidgeting 
about."  The  King  dutifully  obeyed,  but  a  few 
minutes  later  in  he  came  again.  "  Well,  Mr. 

,"  he  said,  "  has  she  been  behaving  properly  ?  ' 

"  Beautifully,      your      Majesty,"      I      answered. 
'  There  !  ':     said    Queen    Alexandra,    pointing    a 
finger  triumphantly  at  her  husband.     "  I  knew  I 
should  be  good  if  you  were  not  here  to  tease  me." 

On  another  occasion  (this  was  in  much  earlier 
days)  the  position  was  reversed.  I  had  been 
summoned  to  Sandringham  for  the  first  time  to 
take  the  Prince  and  Princess  of  Wales,  as  they 
then  were  ;  and  when  the  crucial  hour  arrived  I 
never  felt  so  nervous  in  my  life. 

The  Princess  took  the  posing  of  her  husband 
into  her  own  hands,  and  very  cleverly  and  artistic- 
ally she  did  it.  '  You  see,  Mr.  -  — ,"  the  Prince 
said,  when  at  last  she  was  satisfied,  "  how  obedient 


KING  EDWARD  IN  STORY  313 

I  am."  "  But  he  is  not  always  quite  so  tractable 
as  to-day,  I  assure  you  !  "  laughed  the  Princess. 
Before  I  left,  Her  Royal  Highness  showed  me  some 
of  her  own  photographs.  I  have  rarely  seen 
better  amateur  work.1 

It  was  remarked,  and  widely  commented  on 
in  the  Austro-Hungarian  press,  in  September  1888, 
that  the  Prince  of  Wales  had  accepted  an  invita- 
tion from  the  King  and  Queen  of  Roumania, 
and  would  spend  some  days  with  them  at  Sinai'a 
and  Bucharest,  whilst  his  nephew,  the  German 
Emperor,  was  to  be  the  guest  of  the  Emperor- 
King  Francis  Joseph  at  Vienna ;  the  future  King 
Edward  returning  again  to  Austria-Hungary 
immediately  after  the  youthful  Kaiser  had  de- 
parted. It  would  have  been  useless  to  attempt  to 
explain  this  fact  except  by  observing  that  the 
relations  between  uncle  and  nephew  were  some- 
what strained.  While  it  was  a  thousand  pities 
that  it  should  have  been  so,  surely  some  means 
might  have  been  found  to  avoid  letting  the  world 
at  large  into  the  secret.  It  was  whispered  at 
Vienna  that  the  King  of  Roumania  would  never 
have  thought  of  asking  the  Prince  of  Wales  to 
visit  him  just  at  that  time,  only  he  received  a 
friendly  hint  from  Vienna  to  do  so,  in  order  to 
prevent  any  unpleasant  rencontre  between  the 
Emperor  William  and  his  uncle. 

The  members  of  the  King's  Scottish  Body- 
guard, the  Royal  Archers,  lost  a  valued  comrade 
in  Sir  John  R.  Heron-Maxwell,  who  died  a  week 

1  "  Ideas." 


314        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

after  King  Edward,  very  unexpectedly,  at  Fair- 
lawne,  Tonbridge,  the  residence  of  his  daughter, 
Mrs.  Cazalet.  For  a  long  period  Sir  John,  who 
was  well  known  to  the  King,  had  been  a  familiar 
and  popular  figure  in  clubland.  The  Carlton  had 
known  him  for  many  years,  and  he  had  been  a 
member  of  the  Junior  Carlton.  Sir  John  found  a 
sphere  for  his  activities  in  the  Merchant  Taylors 
Company,  of  which  he  had  been  Master  in  recent 
years  ;  and  he  was  one  of  the  governing  body  of 
St.  George's  Hospital.  He  had  served  in  the 
Royal  Horse  Guards  and  in  the  15th  King's 
Hussars,  and  upon  his  retirement  with  the  rank 
of  captain  in  1865  he  entered  upon  a  commercial 
career.  An  ardent  sportsman,  he  was  the  guest 
in  1909  of  Mr.  Carnegie  and  of  Lord  Strathcona, 
and  it  was  while  shooting  over  the  Scottish  moors 
that  he  was  attacked  with  that  heart-complaint 
which  terminated  his  long  and  highly  honourable 
career.  Of  Sir  John's  four  daughters,  one  (the 
elder,  Maud  Lucia)  married  Mr.  William  Marshall 
Cazalet.  Mrs.  Cazalet  is  a  very  popular  hostess 
both  in  Grosvenor  Square  and  at  Fairlawne,  and 
one  of  her  sisters,  Miss  E.  Heron-Maxwell,  has 
long  been  one  of  the  Duchess  of  Albany's 
"  ladies." 

One  year  when  I l  dined  at  Balmoral  with 
Queen  Victoria,  Princess  Beatrice  and  the  Prince 
of  Wales  (King  Edward),  the  Prince  made  some 
complimentary  remark  about  my  sermon,  and 

1  The  Rev.  W.  W.  Tulloch,  D.D.,  who  has  very  kindly  given  me 
some  of  his  reminiscences  of  the  Royal  Family. 


KING  EDWARD  IN  STORY  315 

said  I  did  not  preach  long  sermons  ;  and  on  my 
laughingly  replying,  "  Not  before  the  Queen,"  he 
said  :  '  Do  you  know,  when  I  first  came  to  this 
part  of  the  country  the  ministers  used  to  preach 
such  long  sermons  that  the  very  collie  dogs 
walked  up  the  pulpit  stairs  and  yawned  in  their 
faces!" 

On  the  same  occasion — it  was  the  year  that 
Dr.  Magee,  whose  tenure  of  the  Archbishopric  of 
York  was  so  short,  had  died — the  King  was  talking 
to  me  about  him,  and  said  he  would  tell  me  a 
good  story  of  him.  He  said  the  Archbishop  had 
been  at  some  hotel  or  inn  and  had  been  "  teased  " 
to  write  something  complimentary  to  his  quarters 
in  the  visitors'  book.  He  wrote  as  follows  : 

I,  So-and-So  Magee,  came  here  for  change — 

A.t  this  stage  the  Prince,  as  he  was  then,  tapped 
his  Royal  forehead,  and  said  with  that  unmistak- 
able "  burr  "  which  is  characteristic  of  the  Royal 
Family :  "  Now,  I  must  get  this  correctly,"  and 
then  added—"  Oh  yes,  I  have  it  "  : 

I,  So-and-So  Magee,  came  here  for  change  and  rest; 
The  waiters  got  the  change,  the  landlord  the  rest. 

And  the  Royal  narrator  laughed  tremendously. 
He  has  one  of  the  most  splendid  of  cachinnations, 
as  if  enjoying  the  sensation  far  down  in  his  throat 
—a  laugh  such  as  my  father  used  to  have,  and 
which  we  children  used  to  describe  as  "  grinding 
his  scissors."  His  manner  is  most  wonderful. 
It  takes  you  by  storm.  There  is  no  resisting  it. 
One  of  the  King's  tutors  in  his  early  years  was 
a  brother  of  my  brother-in-law,  Mr.  Frank  Tarver, 
of  Eton  College.  The  King  knew  that  in  some 
way  I  was  connected  with  the  Tarvers.  So 


316        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

he  said  to  me,  interrogatively :  "  You  married 
Tarver's  sister  ?  '  "  No,  sir,"  I  replied  ;  "  Frank 
Tarver  married  my  sister."  "  Ah,  yes !  The 
other  way  about,"  was  the  Royal  and  genial 
rejoinder. 


Still  one  of  the  handsomest  of  men,  one  of  King 

Edward's  intimates  of  the  old,  old  days,  Lord 

at  a  time  which  I  well  remember,  was  often  without 
the  price  of  a  cab-fare  in  his  pocket ;  yet  he  was 
as  gay  as  the  proverbial  sandboy.  And  since  then 
he  has  made  "  pots  "  of  money. 

The  late  Lord  Torrington,  who  died  in  1889, 
was  in  great  favour  with  Queen  Victoria  and  with 
her  eldest  son  when  he  was  Prince  of  Wales  and 
wondering  if  he  would  ever  come  into  his  inherit- 
ance. I  often  saw  that  delightful  Court  functionary 
at  a  friend's  house,  to  which  he  brought  the 
latest  news  from  the  Palace  and  the  Castle.  He 
was  a  very  sedate  man,  but  possessed  much  quiet 
humour,  and  a  good  story  preserved  all  its  bouquet 
when  he  told  it  without  effort  and  without  even 
the  flicker  of  a  smile  on  his  clear-cut  aristocratic 
face.  "  If  you  ever  get  to  know  Lord  Torrington 
well,"  said  my  host,  "  you  will  find  him  not  only 
one  of  the  most  delightful  of  men,  but  one  of  the 
very  best  friends  in  the  world."  The  present 
Viscount  was  a  page  of  honour  to  Queen  Victoria 
and  also  to  King  Edward  from  his  accession  until 
his  death. 

Those  who  entertained  King  Edward  at  dinner, 
before  as  well  as  after  his  accession,  knew  that 


KING  EDWARD  IN  STORY  317 

the  champagne  of  his  preference  was  Duminy, 
extra  sec,  1883.  It  was  decanted  into  a  glass  jug, 
from  which  he  helped  himself.  It  was  King 
Edward,  when  Prince,  who  made  the  decanting 
of  this  wine  modish. 

King  Edward  had  the  happiest  talent  for 
speech-making,  and  the  Duke  of  Connaught's 
addresses  leave  little  to  desire  in  clearness  and 
forcefulness  of  expression.  The  Duke  of  Edin- 
burgh's extreme  nervousness  made  it  painful  to 
listen  to  him,  yet  he  was  a  fluent  and  very  amusing 
talker  in  private,  as  many  who  knew  him  at 
East  well  Park  will  remember.  He  could  "  chaff," 
too,  with  the  best  of  them.  A  friend  of  mine, 
who  at  one  time  had  to  discuss  business  matters 
with  him  day  after  day  for  months,  said  :  "  You 
never  have  to  tell  him  a  thing  twice.  He  is  as 
sharp  as  a  needle,  and  often  c  floors  '  you  with  his 
questions.  You  were  well  aware  of  the  matters 
we  talked  over,  so  I  need  not  bore  you  by  refer- 
ring to  them.  You  know  how  keenly  interested 
King  Edward  was  in  the  subject  of  my  talks 
with  the  Duke,  and  you  will  not  have  forgotten 
the  ignorant  criticism  of  the  project  which 
appeared  in  the  newspapers.  The  Royal  brothers 
were  greatly  vexed  and  irritated  by  all  those 
pinpricks,  and,  though  neither  of  them  com- 
plained publicly,  they  hotly  resented  the  press 
comments  in  private.  King  Edward  was  par- 
ticularly *  nettled,'  and  could  not  restrain  his 
feelings ;  in  that  respect  he  resembled  many 
other  great  men — the  old  Duke  of  Wellington, 


318        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

for  instance,  who  was  very  free  with  his  '  damns  ' 
and  '  by  Gods.'  The  Duke  of  Edinburgh  was 
much  less  vehement,  but  he  also  had  a  few  '  swear 
words '  in  his  vocabulary,  and  they  came  out 
occasionally.  He  had  the  greatest  respect  for 
c  Bertie,'  and  thought  him  a  prodigy.  Finally, 
this  great  project  proved  a  real  triumph,  and  then 
the  two  Princes  were  beslavered  with  press 
praises  ad  nauseam." 

While  King  Edward  was  an  inveterate  smoker, 
and  thereby,  according  to  his  doctors,  injured 
his  constitution  to  some  extent,  the  Duke  of 
Edinburgh  was  almost  as  much  a  lover  of  tobacco 
as  his  eldest  brother.  Prince  Leopold  occa- 
sionally indulged  in  a  cigarette  and  a  very  mild 
cigar.  The  Duke  of  Connaught  prefers  cigarettes 
to  cigars,  and  surprised  his  hosts  at  the  Washing- 
ton Press  Club  by  saying  :  "  May  I  ask  for  a 
cigarette  ? "  Boxes  of  cigars  were  among  the 
late  King's  most  frequent  presents  from  friends 
and  admirers,  the  latter  often  complete  strangers, 
who  had  never  seen  him  except  in  photographs 
or,  in  the  old  days,  very  indifferent,  almost  un- 
recognisable, wood-cuts.  There  is  a  story  that 
King  Edward  once  offered  a  cigarette  to  Mr. 
Gladstone,  who  began  puffing  at  it  but  soon  put 
it  down ;  but,  as  the  Prince  well  knew  that 
"  Mr.  G."  never  smoked,  it  is  hardly  likely 
that  H.R.H.  would  have  perpetrated  such  a 
betise. 

I    suppose    no   theatrical    entertainment    ever 
caused  King  Edward  more  amusement  than  the 


KING  EDWARD  IN  STORY  319 

44  Guards'  '  performance  of  the  burlesque,  "  Dr. 
Faust  and  Miss  Marguerite,"  given  at  Chelsea 
Barracks  on  several  evenings  in  January-February 
1888.  The  book  was  by  "  Bob  "  Martin  (author 
of  "  Ballyhooley  "  and  44  Killaloe  ")  and  Mr.  E. 
Hobday,  R.H.A.  ; l  the  music  by  44  Teddy  "  Solo- 
mon, who  also  collaborated  with  Henry  Pottinger 
Stephens.  Augustus  Harris  was  stage  manager, 
and  some  of  the  young  ladies  from  the  old  Gaiety 
danced  and  sang.  The  following  appeared  :  Lieut. 
Berkeley  Levitt  (Scots  Guards),  Young  Faust ; 
Lieut.  Count  Gleichen  (Grenadier  Guards),  Old 
Faust ;  Lieut.  H.  R.  Crompton  Roberts  (Grenadier 
Guards),  Martha  ;  Mrs.  C.  Crutchley,  Clochette  ; 
Mrs.  Godfrey  Pearse,  Marguerite ;  Lieut.  G.  C. 
Nugent  (Grenadier  Guards),  Wagner ;  Lieut.-Col. 
H.  Ricardo  (Grenadier  Guards),  Valentine  ;  Captain 
H.  Stopford  (Coldstream  Guards),  Siebel ;  Captain 
F.  C.  Ricardo  (Grenadier  Guards),  Mephistopheles  ; 
Lieut.  D.  Loftus  (Grenadier  Guards),  Lieut.  Hon. 
E.  G.  Stanley  (Grenadier  Guards),  Lieut.  Hon. 
R.  Somerset  (Grenadier  Guards),  Lieut.  Lord 
Athlumney  (Coldstream  Guards),  Lieut.  H.  Prety- 
man  (Grenadier  Guards),  Hon.  M.  Somerville, 
Miss  J.  Balfour,  Hon.  A.  Somerville,  Mrs.  Stop- 
ford,  Mrs.  Wolton,  and  Miss  Agar-Ellis.  Drum- 
mers Kimber  and  Philips,  as  Arabs,  danced,  and 
Sergeant-Drummer  Philips  and  Sergeant  Reilly 
(the  latter  as  a  camel)  were  strong  supports. 
I  remembered  seeing  Mrs.  Crutchley  en  amateur 
years  before  at  the  Olympic,  when  her  dancing 

1  They  were  facetiously  spoken  of  as  "  Day  &  Martin." 


320       MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

much  pleased  the  Prince  and  Princess  of  Wales. 
A  feature  of  the  Chelsea  performance  was  her 
shadow  dance.  I  had  never  seen  such  capable 
amateurs  before,  and  I  cannot  recall  their  equals 
since. 

One  of  King  Edward's  friends  was  very 
anxious  to  become  a  member  of  the  Royal  Yacht 
Squadron.  His  Majesty,  always  ready  to  do  a 
man  a  turn,  asked  a  prominent  living  personage, 
a  member  of  the  Squadron,  to  propose  the  gentle- 
man, who  had  been  given  a  title  and  was  generally 
popular.  He  was  duly  proposed  and  seconded, 
and  was  blackballed,  as  many  better  men  had 
been  before  him.  The  King  was  much  annoyed, 
and  asked  the  same  personage  who  had  proposed 
the  candidate  to  put  him  up  a  second  time.  "  I 
hope  you  will  not  press  me  to  do  so,  sir,"  was  the 
reply  ;  "  we  cannot  force  the  Committee  to  swallow 
his  sausages  !  " 

Lord  Meath,  at  a  meeting  at  Devonshire  House 
in  connection  with  the  "  Duty  and  Discipline  " 
campaign  (1913),  said  :  "  We  have  in  King  George 
one    who   recognises    c  duty '    and    '  discipline.' 
On  one  occasion  the  King,  then  a  Prince  and  nav* 
officer,   arrived   at   Gibraltar,   and  rowed  for  ai 
hour  and  a  half  in  the  teeth  of  a  gale  in  order  t< 
pay  respect  to  a  senior  officer.     On  another  occa- 
sion an  order  was  given  to  the  Prince  to  run  oul 
a  torpedo-boat  when  he  much  desired  to  atten< 
Goodwood    Races.     His    senior    officer    suggest < 
that    perhaps     the    Prince    could    arrange    wit! 
someone  else  to  take  his  place.     "  No,"  he  replied. 


KING  EDWARD  IN  STORY  321 

"if  it  is  the  same  to  you,  sir,  I  would  rather  do 
my  duty."  1 

King  Edward  was  not  the  only  one  of  his 
mother's  children  who  knew  how  to  assert  himself. 
The  Empress  Frederick  was  the  most  affable  and 
unaffected  of  Royalties,  yet  nobody  understood 
better  how  to  give  a  dignified  rebuke  when  occa- 
sion required  it.  When,  as  Crown  Princess,  she 
was  spending  the  winter  at  Pegli,  on  the  Riviera, 
with  her  three  daughters,  they  were  in  the  habit 
of  making  excursions  in  the  neighbourhood  almost 
daily,  travelling  by  train  and  taking  their  places 
among  the  other  passengers  in  any  carriage  where 
they  found  seats.  On  one  of  these  occasions  a 
Frenchman  who  happened  to  find  himself  in  the 
same  compartment  with  them,  being  ignorant 
or  affecting  ignorance  of  the  rank  of  his  fellow- 
travellers,  was  proceeding  to  light  a  cigar  (in 
accordance  with  the  universal  custom  of  smoking 
on  that  line),  but  before  doing  so  he  turned  to 
the  Princess  and  politely  inquired,  "  Does  Madame 
object  to  the  smell  of  smoke  ?  "  "  I  do  not 
know  the  smell,  sir ;  nobody  has  ever  presumed 
to  smoke  in  my  presence,"  was  the  reply. 

A  sensational  story,  headed  "  Mrs.  Pearcy's 
Accomplice,"  and  purporting  "  to  throw  a  lurid 
gleam  on  the  mystery  enshrouding  the  Hampstead 
tragedy,"  was  published  in  1891.  At  the  time 

1 1  think  the  noble  Earl  made  a  little  slip  in  the  second  of  these 
stories,  and  that  King  Edward  had  merely  asked  his  son  if  he  would 
"like  to  come  to  Goodwood."  The  young  gentleman  respectfully 
begged  to  be  excused. 

21 


322        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

the  woman  was  lying  under  sentence  of  death  for 
murder.  It  was  announced  that  the  Prince  of 
Wales  had  been  begged  to  intercede  on  her  behalf 
— that  was  all.  What  really  happened  was  this. 
A  gentleman,  well  known  to  me,  residing  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  the  crime,  good-naturedly  ac- 
companied a  person  greatly  interested  in  the  case 
to  Marlborough  House.  The  Prince  of  Wales  was 
on  the  point  of  starting  for  Sandringham — the 
carriage  was  waiting  for  him,  and  all  was  ready  for 
the  departure.  Sir  Francis  Knollys  heard  what 
they  had  to  say  on  the  subject,  and  asked  the 
gentleman  to  write  down  certain  points,  in  order 
that  he  might  submit  them  to  the  .Prince.  The 
Prince,  hearing  from  Sir  Francis  what  was 
happening,  delayed  his  departure  for  a  consider- 
able time,  read  the  statement  (written  on  the  spot), 
and,  while  expressing  his  deep  regret  that  he 
personally  was  unable  to  do  anything  in  the  matter, 
advised  the  gentleman  who  had  called  upon  him 
to  transmit  the  statement  to  the  Home  Secretary, 
adding,  "  And  you  may  say  that  I  have  read  it." 
This  is  what  actually  happened  at  Marlborough 
House,  but  the  papers  knew  nothing  about  it. 

A  London  paper  published  in  1893  a  dastardly 
attack  on  the  Prince  of  Wales.  The  article  was 
founded  on  something  written  by  Lady  Jeune, 
and  it  suggested  by  implication  that  her  ladyship's 
literary  fireworks  were  prompted  by  her  friend, 
the  Heir- Apparent.  The  alleged  grounds  for  that 
assertion  would  be  amusing  were  not  the  accu 
tion  couched  in  so  serious  a  strain.  According 


KING  EDWARD  IN  STORY  323 

the  writer  of  the  attack,  her  ladyship's  stinging 
magazine  essay  was  published  for  the  purpose  of 
showing  the  Queen  that  her  absence  from  London, 
and  the  consequent  non-existence  of  a  Court,  had 
brought  about  the  lamentable  condition  of  things 
then  prevailing  in  London  Society.  If  the  Prince's 
assailant  had  stopped  there  he  would  merely  have 
rendered  himself  ridiculous  ;  but  he  stupidly  sug- 
gested that  the  Prince,  in  view  of  the  fact  that 
the  Queen's  age  and  health  forbade  her  to  take 
part  in  the  ordinary  functions  of  thex  Court,  was 
anxious  to  force  her  to  give  him  sufficient  money 
to  pay  off  his  alleged  outstanding  liabilities,  and  to 
invest  him  with  the  position  of  representing  her 
altogether  at  Buckingham  Palace — in  other  words, 
to  appoint  him  Regent ! 

This  story  has  been  told  of  a  right  reverend 
prelate  who  was  a  guest  at  Sandringham  before 
King  Edward's  accession.  The  prelate  was  to 
preach  at  Wolferton,  and  had  only  just  reached 
the  church  when  he  discovered  that  his  sermon 
was  missing.  The  rector  drove  with  all  speed  to 
Jandringham,  and  searched  everywhere  for  the 
manuscript  without  avail.  It  was  painful,  but 
the  Bishop  had  to  deliver  an  extempore  discourse, 
which  seemed  to  be  as  satisfactory  to  the  congrega- 
tion as  if  it  had  been  read.  It  was  only  after  the 
service,  when  the  Royal  party  were  returning  to 
Sandringham,  that  somebody  found  the  missing 
sermon  on  the  threshold  of  the  rectory.  Probably 
the  precious  manuscript,  with  some  few  altera- 
tions, "  came  in  useful  "  on  another  occasion. 


324       MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

In  a  book  at  Sandringham  is  recorded  the 
weight  of  every  visitor  on  his  arrival  at,  and  his 
departure  from,  the  Royal  residence.  But  this 
volume  contains,  besides  the  registered  weights 
of  all  comers,  descriptions  of  their  garb,  as  well  as 
their  autographs.  It  is  difficult  to  say  whose 
name  does  not  figure  in  this  collection.  Before 
"  the  Prince's "  accession  the  names  which  ap- 
peared most  frequently  were  those  of  the  then 
Marquis  of  Hartington,  the  Duke  of  Fife,  Lord 
Alington,  "  James  Mackenzie,"  and  "  Reuben  D. 
Sassoon."  In  this  curious  roll  may  also  be  seen 
the  names  of  Baron  Hirsch  and  Mr.  Ernest  Terah 
Hooley. 

"Dizzy"  and  the  "Grand  Old  Man"  were 
occasionally  guests  at  Sandringham.  Lord 
Beaconsfield  appeared  to  enjoy  his  visit  the  most. 
"  Gladstone,"  says  Mrs.  Cresswell,1  "  must  have 
been  aware  that  he  was  no  particular  favourite, 
and  was  a  little  bit  suspicious  and  on  his  guard ; 
as  if  he  knew  that  under  all  the  diplomatic  civility 
H.R.H.  would  dearly  have  loved  to  upset  his 
solemnity  with  a  few  of  his  favourite  jokes — an 
apple-pie  bed,  or  a  roll  in  the  snow,  or  the  stuffing 
into  dress-coat  pocket  of  sticky  sweets.  Even  the 
village  tradesman  who  played  the  organ  was  over- 
whelmed with  confusion  in  Gladstone's  presence." 

The  real  sufferers  by  the  fire  at  Sandringham 
in  1891  were  the  Princesses  Maud  and  Victoria 
of  Wales,  whose  rooms  on  the  upper  floor  were 

1  The  "  Lady  Farmer,"  extracts  from  whose  book  are  given  in 
"  King  Edward  in  his  True  Colours." 


fc     aT 


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KING  EDWARD  IN  STORY  325 

among    those    which    were    attacked.     All    their 
treasures,    including    an    immense    collection    of 
photographs  of  friends  and  relations  and  souvenirs 
of    their    happy    childhood,    were    burnt.     Many 
valuable  effects  of  all  kinds  were  sent  to  London 
immediately  after  the  fire.     The  costly  stretches 
of  tapestry  presented  to  the  Prince  of  Wales  by 
the  late   King   of   Spain   were   dispatched   to  be 
dried   and   cleaned.     Much   of  the  furniture  was 
taken  away  to  be  repolished.     The  carpets  in  the 
drawing-room  which  were  soaked  with  water  from 
the  fire-engines,  and  injured  by  smuts  which  fell 
from  the  fire  overhead,  were  removed  and  replaced 
by  others.     Altogether  a  thousand  men  were  hard 
at  work  for  six  days  removing  all  traces  of  the 
catastrophe,  and  they  finished  the  work  so  quickly 
that  visitors  were  received  in  less  than  a  fortnight. 
Sandringham  was  particularly  gay  every  9th 
of  November,   when  the  King  and  Queen  Alex- 
andra's most  intimate  friends  assembled  to   wish 
the  former  "  many  happy  returns."     After  dinner 
came  Sir  Hedworth  Williamson's  amusing  songs, 
which  rivalled  those  of  the  best  comic  vocalists  of 
:t  the  halls."     The  most  assiduous  of  hosts  was 
not  above  escorting  some  of  his  guests  to  their 
rooms,  stirring  up  the  fires,  and  assuring  himself 
that  everything  was  in  order  !     The  King  and  his 
friends  smoked  in  the  conservatory  after  dinner, 
and  here  the  story-tellers  held  forth.    The  Marquis 
de  Soveral  was  fertile  in  anecdotes,  and  was  not 
eclipsed  even  by  Si  Billy  "  Russell,  whose  death 
was  perhaps  more  sincerely  mourned  by  the  King 


326       MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

than  by  any  one  else.  In  the  saloon  the  Queen 
poured  out  the  tea  for  her  consort  and  the  guests. 
When  there  was  shooting  a  hot  lunch  was  served 
in  a  cottage,  and  later  in  the  day  there  was  turtle 
soup  for  everybody. 

In  the  late  eighties  Madame  Edmond  Adam 
published  in  her  "  Nouvelle  Revue  "  some  extracts 
from  what  were  alleged  to  be  letters  written  by 
the  King  of  the  Belgians  and  the  Prince  of  Wales 
concerning  the  young  Kaiser.  There  was  not  a 
word  of  truth  in  the  letters — perhaps  that  is  why 
they  caused  so  much  talk.  The  letter  which  was 
(of  course  incorrectly)  attributed  to  the  Prince  of 
Wales  (said  to  be  addressed  to  the  King  of  the 
Belgians)  was  dated  "  London,  October  24,  1888," 
and  contained  the  following  passage  : — 

The  Emperor  Francis  treated  me  as  a  friend 
during  my  journey.  He  publicly  tutoyed  me, 
which  he  never  does,  even  to  his  son  and  heir.  As 
to  William,  what  I  knew  of  him  on  my  return  from 
Vienna  convinces  me  that  his  organisation  is 
severely  attacked.  Those  who  have  seen  and 
watched  his  life  are  painfully  concerned  in  his 
behalf.  He  can  get  no  sleep,  save  what  drugs  can 
procure,  and  suffers  from  headaches  so  intense 
that  every  day  he  is  compelled  to  resort  to  mor- 
phine for  relief.  He  easily  loses  his  temper,  and  of 
all  the  Imperial  family  the  affectionate  Stephanie 
alone  [mark  the  forger's  absurd  blunder  here ;  she 
was  then  the  wife  of  the  Archduke  Rudolf,  and  had 
no  more  to  do  with  the  German  Court  than  with 
that  of  the  Cannibal  Islands  !]  has  revealed  some 
energy  over  him.  So  far  as  regards  my  personal 


KING  EDWARD  IN  STORY  327 

feeling  I  can  never  forgive,  nor  forget,  without 
explanation,  the  facts  which  marked  my  funeral 
journey  to  Berlin  on  the  occasion  of  the  death  of 
Frederick,  nor  also  the  last  insult  of  the  "  Reichsan- 
zeiger."  Knollys,  who  passed  through  Berlin, 
was  instructed  to  tell  me  the  Emperor  looked 
forward  to  my  stay  at  Vienna  to  meet  me  there. 
I  followed  the  advice  the  Queen  had  given  me 
before  my  journey,  and  I  only  replied  by  leaving 
Vienna  before  the  Imperial  advent. 

Had  any  one  ever  read  such  a  farrago  as  that 
which  poor  Madame  Adam  printed  in  her  magazine  ? 
Reading  it  at  this  distance  of  time,  I  sometimes 
wonder  if  that  eminent  dabbler  in  our  Paris  Embassy 
documents,  the  immaculate  Norton,  could  have 
had  anything  to  do  with  the  concocted  letters  said 
by  the  writer  in  the  "  Nouvelle  Revue  "  to  have 
passed  between  the  Prince  of  Wales  and  the  King 
of  the  Belgians.  More  unlikely  things  have 
happened. 

The  Carlsbad  authorities  hoped  that  in  1910 
King  Edward  would  "  make  his  cure "  at  the 
Bohemian  spa  instead  of  at  Marienbad.  There 
was  placed  before  His  Majesty  convincing  proof  of 
the  efficacy  of  the  Carlsbad  waters.  The  King  had 
learnt  much  on  the  subject  from  M.  Clemenceau, 
to  whose  rooms,  at  an  hotel,  His  Majesty,  when  he 
made  an  excursion  to  Carlsbad,  paid  a  visit  of 
inspection.  One  August,  when  the  ex-President 
of  the  Council  was  at  the  height  of  his  power,  and 
going  through  a  cure  at  Carlsbad,  he  contented 
himself  with  a  couple  of  rooms  at  a  pension,  at 


328        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

thirty-five  shillings  a  week.  The  "  Moroccan 
affair  "  was  on  at  the  time,  and  the  Premier  and 
his  secretary  were  writing  during  the  greater  part 
of  every  day.  When  the  letters  were  finished  M. 
Clemenceau  invariably  took  them  to  the  post- 
office  himself. 

As  Emile  de  Girardin  was  known  in  the  years 
preceding  the  Second  Empire  as  the  "  Grave- 
digger  of  dynasties,"  so  M.  Clemenceau  has  well 
earned  his  sobriquets,  the  "  wrecker  of  Ministries  " 
and  the  "Tiger."  He  was  au  mieux  with 
Edward  vn.,  and  treated  His  Majesty  more 
familiarly  than  any  of  the  Sovereign's  most  intimate 
friends  would  have  done,  even  when  he  was  Prince 
of  Wales.  One  day  at  Marienbad  the  French 
statesman  called  on  the  King,  who  all  his  life 
had  been  devoted  to  the  "buttonhole."  "Why, 
my  dear  Monsieur  Clemenceau,"  exclaimed  King 
Edward  in  a  tone  of  surprise,  "  you  have  no 
flower  in  your  coat !  Let  me  give  you  one  "  ; 
and  taking  a  huge  carnation  from  a  bowl  of 
magnificent  blossoms,  he  placed  it  in  his  visitor's 
jacket,  with  the  smiling  remark,  "  There  !  Now 
you  are  comme  il  faut !  "  As  they  were  lunching, 
the  King  asked  M.  Clemenceau  how  long  he  ex- 
pected to  remain  Premier.  "  As  long  as  I  like, 
sir,"  was  the  complacent  answer.  Clemenceau 
inherited  from  his  father  a  detestation  of  the 
King's  great  friend,  Napoleon  in.,  and  was  so 
disgusted  with  the  Imperial  regime,  under  which 
he  and  his  father  had  suffered,  that  he  left  France 
before  the  crash  came  and  resided  in  the  United 


KING  EDWARD  IN  STORY  329 

States,  where  he  found  a  charming  wife.  The 
year  1913  saw  King  Edward's  friend  (long  out  of 
office)  again  the  wrecker  of  a  Ministry.  He  strove 
his  utmost  to  prevent  the  election  of  M.  Poincare 
as  Chief  of  the  State;  but  this  did  not  prevent 
the  President  (in  May)  holding  out  the  olive 
branch  to  M.  Clemenceau,  who  accepted  it. 

A  well-known  German  wrote  as  follows  to  one 
of  my  English  friends  early  in  1913  : — 

King  Edward,  in  spite  of  the  near  blood- 
relationship  which  connected  him  with  Germany, 
showed  little  sympathy  towards  our  country 
and  our  people,  partly  in  order  that  his  German 
descent  might  be  lost  sight  of  by  his  self-conscious 
countrymen.  All  through  his  life  he  worked  in 
direct  antagonism  to  Germany,  and  during  his 
reign  intrigued  against  Germany  in  the  whole  of 
Europe.  Thus  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  our 
sympathy  for  him  is  very  small,  although  we  must 
always  impartially  recognise  him  as  a  great  states- 
man. King  Edward  always  treated  Germany  in  a 
haughty  manner  as  a  quantite  negligeable. 

The  bitter  feeling  expressed  in  this  letter  is  not 
that  which  makes  for  goodwill  between  the  two 
ountries.  All  Englishmen,  and,  I  hope,  many 
ermans,  will  regret  that  the  writer  has  been 
betrayed  into  taking  a  wholly  unjust  and  very 
inaccurate  view  of  King  Edward,  of  wThom  the 
German  Press  spoke  in  the  most  generous  terms 
in  May  1910. 

I    King  Alfonso's  remarkable  shooting  at   Sand- 
ngham  and  elsewhere  produced   a   story  of  his 


330       MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

shooting  at  La  Granja.  His  Majesty,  in  high 
spirits,  laid  several  wagers  with  the  ladies  present, 
and  it  was  noticed  with  great  amusement  that 
when  the  fair  gamblers  lost  they  never  paid,  while 
they  succeeded  in  winning  600  pesetas  from  the 
King.  On  reckoning  up  his  losses  he  exclaimed  : 
"  Well,  I  have  lost  to-day,  but  please  say  nothing 
about  this  at  home  !  " 

A  man  who  in  1888  was  prosecuted  for  perjury 
at  Vienna  startled  all  in  court  by  his  positive 
assertion  that  some  years  previously  he  lost 
100,000  thalers  (£15,000)  at  Baden-Baden  to  a 
personage  of  the  highest  social  position  in  England, 
and  not  having  sufficient  money  he  was  compelled 
to  give  bills,  which  were  all  honoured  as  they  fell 
due. 

Even  as  our  dead  King  was  calumniated  in 
1912,  so  in  1888  was  his  brother-in-law,  the 
Emperor  Frederick,  the  Kaiser  for  ninety-nine 
days,  shamefully  outraged.  It  was  in  August 
of  that  year  that  the  long-defunct  paper,  the 
"  Echo,"  owned  by  the  wealthy  philanthropist, 
the  late  Mr.  Passmore  Edwards,  reprinted  from  a 
book  called  "  What  cannot  be  told  at  Berlin " 
("  Ce  que  Ton  ne  peut  pas  dire  a  Berlin  ")  an 
article  reeking  of  the  stable  and  the  farmyard,  and 
worse.  Printed  in  English,  for  the  family  circle 
to  read,  were  details  of  the  alleged  origin  of  the 
Emperor's  illness.  None  need  envy  the  wearers 
of  Crowns  or  those  who  are  likely  to  wear  them. 
Very  few  outside  the  Imperial  family,  and  perhaps 
not  all  of  those,  were  aware  that  the  Prince  of 


KING  EDWARD  IN  STORY  331 

Wales's  brother-in-law  was  a  cancerous  subject. 
That  he  was  so  was  revealed  in  a  very  singular 
manner,  as  I  learnt  only  while  these  pages  were 
being  written.  Six  or  seven  years  before  his  death 
the  then  Crown  Prince  visited  London,  and  com- 
plained of  the  pain  caused  by  what  he  thought 
was  a  corn  on  the  sole  of  one  foot.  He  was  staying 
at  Claridge's  Hotel,  and  a  chiropodist  found  that 
the  pain  was  caused  by  a  cancerous  growth,  which 
was  successfully  treated  by  a  relative  of  Mr.  Alex- 
ander, who  himself  has  removed  similar  growths. 

As  Prince  of  Wales  King  Edward  was  full  of 
fun,  and  very  fond  of  French  calembours.  One 
day,  when  he  was  quite  a  boy,  in  conversation 
with  the  beautiful  Comtesse  (Edmond)  de  Pourtales, 
la  belle  Melanie  of  the  Empire  period,  the  Prince 
offered  her  a  suggestion  for  a  dress  which,  when 
she  wore  it,  was  the  subject  of  much  curiosity 
and  many  jokes.  She  appeared  in  it  at  a  ball, 
and  people  thronged  round  her  to  admire  and 
wonder  at  it.  A  large  letter  "  P  "  was  embroidered 
on  the  front  of  the  bodice,  and  on  the  skirt  was  an 
equally  large  embroidered  letter  "A."  Nobody 
could  guess  the  meaning  of  the  letters  until 
Hallez-Claparede  (who,  among  his  other  accom- 
plishments, was  a  noted  duellist)  came  up,  and 
said :  "  Vous  avez  raison,  Comtesse.  Je  com- 
prends.  *  A '  longue  sous  '  P '  '  (allons  souper). 
Albert  Edward's  ingenious  calembour  was  voted 
un  succes  fou. 

When  the  Tranby  Croft  affair  was  filling  the 
papers  it  was  ridiculously  stated  that  Lady  Brooke 


332        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

(the  Countess  of  Warwick)  had  "  blabbed  "  about 
the  delinquencies  of  Sir  William  Gor don- Gumming . 
As  a  matter  of  fact  the  Countess,  who  has  not 
begun  to  write  her  memoirs,  had  no  more  to 
do  with  the  affair  which  caused  the  then  Prince 
of  Wales  so  much  pain  than  Cardinal  Manning 
or  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury.  She  was  never 
at  Tranby  Croft  in  her  life,  but  once  the  lie  that 
she  was  one  of  the  party  had  been  started  it  was 
impossible  to  squelch  it. 

High  play  often  leads  to  acts  which  may  be 
euphemistically  termed  "  indelicate  "  ;  and  the 
Prince  of  Wales 's  whilom  friend,  the  late  George 
Russell,  was  the  hero  of  a  very  melancholy  scandal. 
Until  now  the  manner  in  which  his  eccentric  play 
was  discovered  has  not  been  made  public,  but  it 
was  known  to  a  select  few,  including,  we  may 
assume,  the  Marquis  of  Hartington  of  the  period. 
The  "  trouble "  arose  at  the  Arlington  Club. 
George  Russell  ("  dear  George,"  as  Queen  Victoria 
calls  him  in  her  book,  "  Our  Life  in  the  Highlands  ") 
was  sitting  at  the  card  table  next  to  a  very  nervous 
old  gentleman  who  was  wearing  pumps  and  silk 
stockings.  He  felt  something  fall  on  his  instep, 
and,  looking  down,  saw  a  card.  He  kept  his 
eyes  open,  and  discovered  that  some  one  was 
cheating.  The  esclandre  followed.  Had  the  old 
gentleman  been  wearing  ordinary  shoes  and 
woollen  or  cashmere  stockings,  or  socks,  probably 
the  discovery  would  never  have  been  made.  The 
delinquent  fled  the  country,  and  died  at  Nice  some 
two  years  ago. 


KING  EDWARD  IN  STORY  333 

When  Edward  vn.  ascended  the  Throne  he 
was  so  intent  upon  pleasing  in  every  imaginable 
way  the  beautiful  woman  who  had  shared  his  joys 
and  sorrows  for  nearly  half  a  century  that,  much 
to  her  satisfaction,  he  placed  her  in  the  position 
of  an  actual  Queen-Regnant  instead  of  a  mere 
Queen-Consort.  It  was  a  charming  manner  of 
atoning  for  any  peches  mignons  which  he  may  or 
may  not  have  perpetrated  during  their  long  and 
happy  married  life.  Queen  Alexandra  is  endowed 
with  such  a  beautiful,  loving,  and  forgiving  char- 
acter that  it  took,  and  still  takes,  a  great  deal  to 
ruffle  it,  and  it  is  conceivable,  to  employ  a  homely 
phrase,  that  she  has  had  more  to  put  up  with  since 
her  beloved  Consort's  untimely  death  than  during 
his  life.  This  is  the  opinion  of  some  who  are  not 
altogether  ignorant  of  existence  within  the  Royal 
Palaces. 

King  Edward  gave  presents  in  a  manner 
which  greatly  enhanced  their  value.  When,  as 
Prince,  he  was  staying  at  a  well-known  house  in 
the  north  his  own  servant  was  taken  ill,  and  his 
wants  were  attended  to  by  one  of  his  host's 
domestics.  Towards  the  termination  of  his  visit 
the  Prince  sent  up  to  Hunt  &  Roskill  for  some 
jewellery  with  which  to  make  various  presents. 
As  he  was  examining  a  case  of  rings  he  called  the 
servant  to  his  side  and  said :  "  Which  do  you 
think  is  the  handsomest  of  these  rings  ?  I  am  sure 
you  are  a  good  judge  of  such  things."  The  man, 
feeling  greatly  honoured,  indicated  a  certain  ring, 
which  the  Prince  gave  him,  remarking,  "  Keep  it." 


334        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

King  Edward  was  very  generous  with  his 
money,  although  much  less  extravagant  than  the 
ignorant  multitude  thought  him.  His  brother, 
the  Duke  of  Edinburgh,  was  cast  in  a  different 
mould.  One  day  Tom  Pratt  (son-in-law  of  Marion 
Sims,  the  famous  American  ladies'  doctor),  who 
was  taken  up  and  made  much  of  by  Edward  vn. 
when  he  was  Prince,  called  at  the  "  Bristol " 
to  see  the  Duke  of  Edinburgh,  who  had  sent 
across  the  square  (Place  Vendome)  for  him.  Tom 
found  the  Duke  packing  up,  as  he  was  leaving 
Paris  in  an  hour's  time.  "  Come  out  with  me, 
Tom,"  said  His  Royal  Highness,  "  and  buy  some 
cord  to  fasten  my  trunks.  I  am  going  to  buy  it 
myself,  for  if  I  left  the  hotel  people  to  get  it,  they 
would  charge  me  double  what  I  shall  pay  for  it !  " 

Yet  the  Duke  could  be  very  generous  and  a 
real  friend  to  any  one  in  trouble,  as  none  knew 
better  than  Harry  Montague,  the  actor.  The 
Duke  simply  knew  the  value  of  things.  On  one 
occasion  a  Russian,  a  very  rich  bourgeois,  told  a 
well-known  popular  Viscount,  a  great  friend  of 
the  then  Prince  of  Wales,  that  he  would  pay  him 
very  handsomely  to  get  personally  presented  to  the 
Tsar  in  private  audience.  The  Viscount,  being 
of  an  enterprising  nature,  gave,  chez  lui,  a  dinner 
to  the  Duke  of  Edinburgh,  the  principal  item  of 
the  menu  being  his  Royal  guest's  favourite  dish, 
steak  and  onions,  with  plenty  of  champagne. 
The  host  laid  the  ambitious  Russian's  affair  before 
the  Duke,  and  not  long  afterwards  it  was  arranged 
for  the  Tsar  to  receive  Mr.  O.  at  a  morning  recep- 


KING  EDWARD  IN  STORY  335 

tion  in  the  Winter  Palace.  The  quid  pro  quo 
was  magnificent,  and  in  addition  to  it  the  Russian 

had  to  pay  Lord what  he  had  lost  to  Raymond 

Seilliere  at  bezique  and  to  the  canny  Viscount  at 
whist.  Altogether  a  considerable  hole  was  made 
in  his  large  fortune.  But  he  did  not  begrudge  a 
copeck  of  what  he  had  spent,  for  had  not  the  great 
White  Tsar  said  "  Good-morning,  Mr.  O.,"  and 
placed  his  delicate  hand  in  the  sinewy  paw  of  the 
Petersburg  tradesman  ? 

When  the  Grand  Duchess  Marie  arrived  in 
England  after  her  marriage  to  the  Duke  of  Edin- 
burgh she  amazed  our  Court  circle  by  claiming 
precedence  over  the  Princess  of  Wales.  As  the 
Tsar's  daughter  much  was  forgiven  her,  but  her 
hope  of  "  going  in "  before  the  future  Queen 
Alexandra  was  not  realised.  One  day,  when  the 
Grand  Duchess  Marie  was  a  little  girl,  the  Tsar 
was  talking  to  a  French  lady  in  the  Winter  Palace. 
In  the  midst  of  their  conversation  the  violent 
screams  of  a  child,  evidently  in  a  fit  of  anger, 
were  heard,  drowning  the  Emperor's  voice.  His 
Majesty  kept  his  temper  for  some  time,  and  then, 
suddenly  begging  the  lady  to  excuse  him  for  a 
moment,  rushed  into  the  next  room,  seized  the 
naughty  girl  (who  was  still  screaming),  and  gave 
her  a  sound  slapping  in  the  conventional  parental 
manner.  The  next  minute,  as  if  overwhelmed  by 
what  he  had  done,  the  fond  father  fell  on  his 
knees,  humbly  begging  the  little  termagant  to 
forgive  him  !  Everybody  knows  that  both  King 
Edward  and  the  Duke  of  Edinburgh  were,  like 


336        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

Tsar  Alexander  n.,  too  good-natured  to  their 
children  in  the  early  days  of  the  little  Princes  and 
Princesses.  Queen  Victoria  sometimes  erred  in 
the  opposite  direction,  although  she  always  tem- 
pered justice  with  mercy. 

In  "  La  Societe  de  Londres "  Count  Vasili 
tells  this  story  of  the  Duke  of  Edinburgh  ("  the 
Court  minstrel,  born  with  an  oar  in  one  hand  and 
a  fiddle  in  the  other  "):  The  late  Empress  of 
Russia  coming  to  England  to  visit  her  daughter, 
the  Duchess  of  Edinburgh,  with  a  numerous  suite, 
carriages,  horses,  etc.,  the  Duke  gave  her  to 
understand  that  he  couldn't  afford  to  put  her  up 
gratuitously,  and  asked  her  to  be  good  enough  to 
order  her  major-domo,  before  leaving,  to  pay 
the  reckoning.  The  Empress  gave  orders  to  this 
effect,  and  all  the  "ex's"  were  duly  paid  ;  but  at 
the  last  moment — when  the  Empress  was  in  the 
train — the  Duke  took  from  his  pocket  and  handed 
to  his  mother-in-law  the  bill  for  the  lunch  which 
had  been  served  that  day,  but  not  previously 
charged  for. 

The  late  Duke  Ernest  of  Saxe-Coburg,  brother 
of  Queen  Victoria's  consort  ("  Albert  the  Good  "), 
was  exceedingly  antipathetic  to  Count  Vasili, 
who  asserts  that  Duke  Ernest  (a  sufficiently 
familiar  figure  at  Windsor  and  in  London  until 
shortly  before  his  death)  was  the  antithesis  of 
King  Edward's  father.  "  Believe  me,  my  dear 
Count,"  said  Prince  Ernest  of  Wurtemberg,  "  less 
objectionable  persons  have  been  hanged."  If 
Vasili's  ipse  dixit  be  worth  anything,  the  King 


KING  EDWARD  IN  STORY  337 

of  Hanover,  grandfather  of  the  Prince  who  married 
the  Kaiser's  daughter  in  1913,  was  indebted  to 
Duke  Ernest  of  Saxe-Coburg  for  the  loss  of  the 
battle  of  Langensalza,  his  alleged  treachery  being 
duly  rewarded  by  Prussia.  If  you  wanted  a 
decoration,  you  bought  a  horse  or  two  of  Duke 
Ernest  and  your  desire  was  granted ;  or  you 
could  purchase  a  title  or  a  riband  of  the  Duke's 
Aulic  Counsellor,  formerly  a  waiter  at  a  restaurant. 

Duke  Ernest  embroiled  himself  with  his  nephew, 
the  Duke  of  Edinburgh  (who  succeeded  him  on 
the  throne),  a  propos  of  a  ball  given  by  our  Duke 
at  Coburg.  The  Duchess  of  Edinburgh,  now 
Dowager  Duchess  of  Saxe-Coburg,  objected  to 
Duke  Ernest  inviting  two  of  his  "  lady  friends," 
one  of  them  being  his  natural  daughter,  married 
to  the  Master  of  the  Ceremonies  of  the  Ducal 
Court,  who  was  formerly  a  "  bagman,"  or  com- 
mercial traveller.  Duke  Ernest's  wife  was  the 
Grand  Duke  of  Baden's  sister,  whom  the  Duke 
compelled  to  know  and  receive  his  mistresses,  one 
of  whom  died  at  Nice  in  the  Duchess  Ernest's 
arms.  Duke  Ernest  had  for  an  aide-de-camp  an 
English  gentleman,  whose  brother  is  credited  by 
Vasili  with  having  once  said  :  !( I  would  rather 
see  my  brother  degraded  to  the  position  of  a 
simple  soldier  than  promoted  to  high  rank  at 
Coburg." 

During  one  of  his  frequent  visits  to  Paris 
King  Edward,  then  Prince  of  Wales,  said  to  Lord 
Dupplin,  one  of  his  most  intimate  friends  :  "I 
say,  George,  I  saw  my  friend  Farini  on  the  boule- 


22 


338        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

vard  yesterday.  I  wish  you  would  find  him  out 
and  bring  him  here.  I  should  like  to  see  him 
again."  Now  :s  my  friend  Farini "  was  an 
acrobat,  who  had  performed  in  London  at  the 
Alhambra. 

All  the  other  members  of  the  Hay  family  were 
welcome  visitors  at  Marlborough  House,  and  the 
Hon.  Alistair  Hay,  whose  daughter  Auriol  is  a 
promising  young  writer  of  verses  and  stories,  was 
a  playmate  of  King  George  and  his  brother. 
Prince  "  Eddy,"  the  Duke  of  Clarence,  always 
wore  round  his  neck  a  fetish  in  the  shape  of  a  gold 
chain,  and  told  his  mother,  who  had  given  it  to 
him,  that  he  would  never  take  it  off.  One  day 
he  removed  it,  and  within  a  fortnight  he  died. 
The  Tsar  always  has  in  his  pocket  or  round  his 
neck  one  or  other  of  his  numerous  "  charms,"  and 
the  German  Emperor's  particular  fetish  is  a  snuff- 
box which  originally  belonged  to  Frederick  n. 

King  Edward  had  seen  Sarah  Bernhardt  at 
the  Theatre  Frangais  years  before  she  appeared 
at  our  Gaiety,  and  the  great  actress  was  honoured 
with  his  friendship  to  the  last.  One  day,  not 
long  before  the  King's  death,  Mme.  Bernhardt, 
while  breakfasting,  was  rung  up  on  the  telephone. 
"  Who  is  it  ?  "  she  asked  the  servant.  "  A  man, 
but  he  won't  give  his  name."  !<  Oh  !  I  can't  be 
bothered  just  now,"  said  Sarah.  Again  the  bell 
tinkled,  and  the  domestic  came  in  with  the  mes- 
sage :  "  The  gentleman  says  Madame  must  come 
to  the  telephone  herself.  She  will  understand 
who  it  is  when  she  comes."  Sarah  went  impatiently 


KING  EDWARD  IN  STORY  339 

to  the  telephone.  "  Who  are  you  ?  ''  she  de- 
manded rather  strenuously.  "  It  is  I,  le  Roi 
d'Angleterre,"  the  voice  replied.  "  I  beg  your 
pardon,  Madame,  but  can  I  have  a  box  at  your 
theatre  to-night  ?  '  ''  Certainly,  sir,"  said  Sarah, 
''  with  the  greatest  pleasure  in  the  world.  I  am 
only  too  much  honoured."  The  King  could,  of 
course,  have  had  a  box  by  sending  to  the  theatre 
for  one,  and  he  had  proffered  his  request  merely 
to  afford  Mme.  Bernhardt  the  pleasure  of  giving 
him  one.  The  King  sent  the  actress  and  her  son 
Maurice  cards  for  Westminster  Abbey  at  the 
Coronation. 

The  great  talent  of  Brasseur,  the  celebrated 
actor,  won  for  him  the  friendship  of  King  Edward 
when  he  was  Prince.  H.R.H.  had  no  sooner 
arrived  in  Paris  than  his  French  tutor  was  de- 
spatched to  hunt  up  Brasseur  and  bring  him  to 
breakfast  with  the  Prince  at  the  "  Bristol." 

Edward  vn.  as  Prince  and  King  highly  appreci- 
ated a  certain  brand  of  wine  obtainable,  at  a  very 
reasonable  price,  only  at  Voisin's,  which  is  still 
famous  for  its  cellars,  and  still  the  favourite  resort 
of  epicures.  The  King  constantly  had  this  wine 
sent  to  the  "Bristol,"  although  every  effort  was 
made  to  dissuade  him  from  doing  so  by  the  imposi- 
tion of  a  high  rate  of  "  corkage."  I  daresay  very 
few  English  people  know  that  you  can  sleep,  as 
well  as  lunch  and  dine,  at  Voisin's,  which  is  the 
last  of  the  old  cabarets  for  which  Paris  used  to  be 
renowned.  '  Take  him  to  Voisin's,  and  he  will 
never  forget  it,"  said  the  great  Blowitz  to  a  friend 


340        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

who  was  giving  me  tf  a  good  time."  Philibert 
Audebrand,  lunching  there  at  the  invitation  of  a 
well-known  man,  observed  that  a  gentleman  sitting 
near  them  paid  his  bill  with  a  thousand-franc 
bank-note,  and  that  the  waiter  brought  the  change, 
in  notes  and  louis,  upon  a  plate.  '  What  would 
you  like  next  ? "  asked  Audebrand's  host. 
"  Well,"  said  the  guest,  casting  an  envious  glance 
at  the  money  on  the  plate,  "  I  should  very  much 
like  un  plat  comme  celui-la."  Aurelien  Scholl,  who, 
like  King  Edward,  was  a  fine  gueule,  was  once  the 
guest  at  Voisin's  of  a  noted  bore,  who,  a  dullard 
himself,  had  anticipated  from  his  friend  a  flow  of 
the  witty  talk  for  which  Scholl  was  famous,  and 
was  much  vexed  that  the  humorist  opened  his 
mouth  only  to  eat  and  drink.  '  Why  are  you  so 
silent,  Monsieur  Scholl,"  he  asked ;  "  you  who 
have  such  a  reputation  for  esprit  ?  "  f(  My  dear 
sir,"  replied  Scholl,  helping  himself  to  another 
glass  of  Clicquot,  "  a  man  may  have  esprit  and  not 
care  to  waste  it.  Lots  of  people  have  plenty  of 
money  in  their  pockets,  but  they  await  a  favourable 
opportunity  for  spending  it." 

M.  Stolypin,  the  Russian  Prime  Minister,  whose 
assassination  will  be  remembered,  said  :  '  What 
could  we  have  done  after  the  war  with  Japan 
without  England's  assistance  in  the  Far  East  and 
in  Persia  ?  King  Edward  is  the  first  of  politicians. 
I  have  talked  with  him.  He  has  the  gift  of  sub- 
jugating the  minds  of  those  with  whom  he  converses. 
The  Emperor  William  is  not  nearly  so  dangerous." 

M.    Alexander    Guchkow,    who    resigned    the 


KING  EDWARD  IN  STORY  341 

Presidency  of  the  Duma  in  March  1911,  made  a 
remarkable  speech  in  1908  on  the  naval  and 
military  estimates  ;  and  King  Edward,  at  Reval, 
in  the  same  year,  congratulated  the  Tsar  upon  the 
fact  that  such  a  speech  should  have  been  possible 
in  the  National  Assembly  so  soon  after  its  crea- 
tion (1905-6).  The  King  was  fully  aware  that 
M.  Guchkow  had  fought  against  us  in  the  Boer  war. 

Lord  Leven  and  Melville,  Lord  Stafford  of 
Costessey,  and  the  Duke  of  Sutherland l  were  more 
or  less  associated  with  King  Edward.  Lord 
Leven  gave  the  King  £150,000  for  the  purposes 
of  a  chapel  for  the  Knights  of  the  Order  of  the 
Thistle  in  the  cathedral  of  St.  Giles  at  Edinburgh. 
Lord  Stafford,  when  the  King  visited  him  at 
Costessey  Hall,  apologised  for  receiving  His  Majesty 
(then  Prince)  in  such  a  small  old-fashioned  place, 
and  talked  about  replacing  it  by  something  better. 
"  What !  "  said  the  King  ;  "  destroy  this  fine  old 
house  ?  You  must  not  do  that — it  is  history." 
With  the  Duke  of  Sutherland's  father  King  Edward 
had  been  on  lifelong  terms  of  friendship. 

There  was  a  time,  beginning  with  the  Royal 
marriage  in  1863,  when  Brinley  Richards's  national 
song,  :e  God  bless  the  Prince  of  Wales,"  was 
played  by  bands  and  sung  by  school-children  and 
their  elders  as  often  as  "  God  save  the  Queen." 
Less  known,  but  equally  worthy  of  performance, 
was  the  song,  "  God  save  the  Prince  of  Wales," 
written  by  Louisa  Gray  (the  late  Mrs.  Abingdon 
Compton)  and  composed  by  Chevalier  William 

1  These  Peers  died  in  1913. 


342        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

Ganz.     The  profits  resulting  from  the  large  sale  of 
this  song  were  generously  given  to  charities. 

This  reminiscence  of  the  Prince  of  Wales' 
memorable  tour  in  India  in  1875-6  may  be  called 
the  story  of  the  emerald  bracelet.  The  Prince 
was  desirous  of  adding  to  his  store  of  jewellery 
for  presents — never  very  large,  and  at  that  par- 
ticular time  very  small — a  bracelet  such  as  he 
might  present  to  some  lady  in  official  circles  who 
had  been  his  partner  twice  or  thrice  at  the  great 
dances  given  in  his  honour.  Inspecting  the  stores 
of  one  of  the  most  celebrated  Indian  jewellers, 
the  Prince  was  shown  a  bracelet  composed  of 
magnificent  emeralds.  His  Royal  Highness  much 
admired  the  ornament,  purchased  it,  and  took  the 
first  opportunity  of  presenting  it  to  the  young 
lady,  accompanying  the  present  with  those  kind 
and  gracious  words  of  his  which  so  greatly  enhance 
the  value  of  a  gift.  Very  proud  of  the  Royal 
gift,  flattered  by  the  Royal  esteem,  and  delighted 
with  the  fine  emeralds,  the  lady  wore  the  bracelet 
at  the  next  ball.  After  two  or  three  dances  she 
was  escorted  by  her  partner  to  the  conservatory, 
where  she  sat  down,  and  had  just  asked  her 
companion  to  get  her  an  ice,  when  he  exclaimed, 
in  horror-struck  tones,  "  What  have  you  got  on 
your  arm  ?  It's  all  green  and  running  down  !  " 
The  lady  looked,  and,  with  a  feeling  of  dread  that 
was  but  natural  in  that  land  of  snakes,  beheld 
trickling  from  her  wrist  a  serpentine  stream, 
minute  but  palpable,  green  and  slimy.  The 
emeralds  had  melted  from  the  extreme  heat ; 


KING  EDWARD  IN  STORY  343 

for,  instead  of  being  what  they  were  purchased 
as,  real  gems,  they  were  glass,  artfully  pierced 
and  pencilled  either  with  some  green  fluid  or  a 
composition  soluble  when  exposed  to  heat.  I 
need  hardly  say  that  when  the  Prince  heard  of 
the  disaster  he  replaced  the  sham  gems  with  some 
which  did  not  melt,  and  returned  the  former  to 
the  jeweller  of  whom  they  had  been  obtained,  who 
got  no  more  Royal  patronage. 

King  George  cannot,  in  the  nature  of  things, 
have  the  legion  of  friends  and  acquaintances 
possessed  by  his  father ;  he  has  nevertheless  a 
large  number  of  both,  and  it  is  pleasant  to  know 
that  they  all  "  swear  by  him."  One  of  the  fore- 
most of  the  Sovereign's  fervent  admirers  (and 
perhaps  counsellors)  is  Lord  Derby,  who  has  been 
heard  to  say,  "  King  George  is  the  best  of  '  pals  '  ! 9: 
One  of  His  Majesty's  most  valued  and  most  valuable 
treasures  is  a  number  of  water  stones.  Some  of 
them  are  as  large  as  an  ostrich's  egg,  and  their 
peculiarity  is  that  they  contain  water ;  seeing 
which,  one  wonders  how  it  got  there.  These 
priceless  curios  were  the  gift  of  a  lady,  wife  of  a 
bank  manager  at  Monte  Video,  when  King  George 
and  his  brother  were  on  their  travels. 

At  Ceylon  the  Princes  became  acquainted  with 
Mr.  Traill,  a  prominent  merchant,  with  whom 
they  played  lawn-tennis.  As  Mr.  Traill  and  his 
son  were  the  victors,  the  youth  said  to  his  father  : 
"  We  must  let  them  win  to-morrow."  "  No,"  he 
replied,  "  they  are  young  Englishmen,  and  must 
show  that  they  can  take  a  licking  like  any  one 


344        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

else."  The  Princes  were  very  desirous  of  shooting 
an  elk,  and  Mr.  Traill  told  them  he  would  show 
them  some  sport  on  the  following  day.  As  their 
guardian,  who  was  much  interested  in  botany, 
raised  objections  on  the  score  of  danger,  Mr.  Traill 
told  him  of  a  locality  abounding  with  rare  speci- 
mens, and  he  started  on  his  expedition  in  quest 
of  them.  When  he  was  thus  got  out  of  the  way, 
Mr.  Traill  and  the  Princes  went  to  find  elk,  and  a 
fine  one  was  shot — by  which  of  the  trio  I  cannot 
say,  my  informant,  who  was  in  Ceylon  at  the  time, 
having  forgotten.  Probably  the  elk  fell  to  the 
guns  of  all  three  ;  anyway,  it  was  killed  by  one 
(or  all)  of  the  party,  and  I  am  told  that  the  stuffed 
animal  is  now  to  be  seen  at  Sandringhani.  Many 
years  later  Mr.  Traill  happened  to  be  "  out " 
with  the  West  Norfolk  pack.  After  scrutinising 
him  closely,  the  Duke  of  Clarence  recognised  and 
accosted  him.  "  How  do  you  do,  Mr.  Traill  ? 
I  am  very  glad  to  see  you  again.  I  hope  you  have 
enjoyed  the  sport  to-day  as  much  as  my  brother 
and  I  enjoyed  the  lawn-tennis  and  the  elk-hunting 
at  Ceylon." 

In  his  admirable  "  Life  of  Gladstone,"  Lord 
Morley  describes  Queen  Victoria  as  being  "  natural 
under  effort."  From  this  little  blemish,  which 
may  have  been  attributable  to  her  grief  for  her 
Consort,  King  Edward  was  wholly  free  A  charming 
naturalness  was  one  of  his  attributes,  and  it  is 
equally  observable  in  his  son.  George  v.  is  en- 
dowed with  so  equable  a  temperament  that  he  is 
not  visibly  awed  by  the  acclamations  of  the  crowd, 


KING  EDWARD  IN  STORY  345 

which   he   takes   with   delightful,    even   amusing, 
sang  froid.     This  was  particularly  perceptible  at 
the  review  of  the  Territorials  in  Hyde  Park  (July  5, 
1913),  when,  after  the  Sovereign  had  inspected  the 
lines,  and  was  returning  to  the  base  to  take  the 
salute,   there   were  continuous   volleys    of   cheers 
almost  unparalleled  in  my  recollection.     I  do  not 
remember  King  Edward  to  have  been  more  de- 
monstratively greeted  than  was  his  son  on  this 
occasion.     As  the  King  passed  along  the  roadway 
which,  by  some  one's  unpardonable  blunder,  was 
named  Constitution  "  Hill  "   (it  is  as  level  as  a 
billiard-table),  the  cheering  was  intermittent,  and, 
so  it  seemed  to  me,  faint ;    but  when  the  carriage 
containing  the   Queen    and   Princess   Mary   went 
slowly  by  there  were  loud  hurrahs  and  flutterings 
of  many  handkerchiefs.     In  the  carriage,  facing 
the  Queen  and  her  daughter,   sat  (to  quote  the 
Court    Circular)    "  Lieutenant-Colonel    the    Lord 
Stamfordham,"  the  King's  Private  Secretary  since 
Lord  Knollys's  retirement  in  March.     Lieutenant- 
Colonel  F.  Dugdale,  Equerry  to  the  Queen,  "  was 
in  attendance  on  horseback."     Her  Majesty  was 
"  attended    by ':     Lord    Stamfordham.     The    in- 
novation  of   the  Private  Secretary  riding  in  the 
Queen's  carriage  was  seemingly  unnoticed  by  the 
populace  and  was  unrecorded  by  the  daily  Press. 

The  late  King's  well-known  strictness  in  all 
the  details  of  uniforms  and  Court  attire  was  once 
more  exemplified  by  the  command  which  he  pro- 
mulgated in  1907  in  quite  another  direction. 
Heretofore  His  Majesty's  Chaplains  had  had  the 


346        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

Royal  cypher  embroidered  on  the  ends  of  their 
scarves.  Since  1907,  in  accordance  with  King 
Edward's  order,  the  cypher  has  been  worn  as  a 
brooch  pinned  on  the  left  breast.  Queen  Victoria, 
in  appreciation  of  the  gallantry  of  the  Irish  troops 
in  the  Boer  war,  formed  the  Irish  Guards,  Shortly 
after  the  accession  of  Edward  vn.  the  regiment 
appeared  at  the  annual  trooping  of  the  colour  and 
the  King  wore  their  uniform.  His  Majesty  noticed 
that  the  Prince  of  Wales  appeared  to  be  much 
amused  during  the  ceremony,  and  on  their  return 
to  the  Palace  the  King  asked  him  what  had  aroused 
his  mirth.  "  Because,"  was  the  reply,  "  the  Irish 
Guards  will  have  to  change  their  hackles.1  They 
wear  them  on  the  right — yours  is  on  the  left !  "  The 
King  good-humouredly  admitted  the  mistake, 
which  he  had  not  observed  when  he  put  on  his 
busby  ;  and  nothing  more  was  heard  of  it. 

This  curiously  amusing  paragraph  was  evidently 
considered  "  good  enough  "  for  the  readers  of  the 
paper  in  which  it  appeared  in  1911  : 

Either  the  order  given  by  the  late  King  that 
no  woman  should  be  allowed  to  ride  astride  in 
Hyde  Park  has  been  rescinded,  or  else  it  is  honoured 
more  in  the  breach  than  in  the  observance,  as 
many  ladies  have  been  seen  of  late  riding  masculine 
fashion.  King  Edward  had  an  insuperable  objec- 
tion to  the  fashion,  and  had  insisted  that  no  lady 
above  the  age  of  fourteen  should  be  permitted  to 
ride  thus  in  any  of  the  Royal  parks.  It  is  said  that 
the  prohibition  was  the  result  of  a  young  married 
woman  disregarding  His  Majesty's  well-known 

1  The  little  plume  on  the  busby  is  known  as  the  hackle. 


KING  EDWARD  IN  STORY  347 

opinion  on  the  subject,  and  appearing  thus  mounted 
at  a  meet  at  which  the  King  was  present. 

The  idea  of  the  King  giving  "  an  order  "  pro- 
hibiting ladies  from  riding  a  califourchon  in  the 
Row  will,  I  imagine,  be  generally  regarded  as 
sublimely  comic.  Equally  absurd  is  the  published 
tittle-tattle  crediting  King  George  with  "  making 
it  known "  that  he  hoped  ladies  would  refrain 
from  cross-saddle  riding  when  he  took  his  daughter 
into  the  Row  ! 

In  my  previous  volume  I  narrated  several 
hitherto-unrecorded  stories  of  the  German  Em- 
peror vis-a-vis  his  uncle,  which,  said  one  of  my 
French  critics,  were  calculated  to  produce  a  flood 
of  ink  from  the  Thames  to  the  Spree.1  Many  of 
them  have  been  reproduced  in  the  European, 
Colonial,  American,  and  Canadian  papers,  probably 
because  they  all  told  in  King  Edward's  favour. 
A  member  of  the  German  Yacht  Club  is  made 
sponsor  for  the  following,  which  does  not  lack 
piquancy.  The  Imperial  yacht  "  Hohenzollern," 
which  has  been  often  seen  in  the  Solent,  was 
entering  a  Norwegian  harbour  some  time  ago. 
The  Kaiser  became  very  impatient  with  the  slow 
progress  made,  and  himself  sounded  the  telegraph 
to  quicken  up  the  speed.  Immediately,  to  the 
Kaiser's  great  amazement,  the  pilot,  a  grey- 
headed Norwegian  named  Norohuns,  rushed  to  the 

1  A  personage  at  Berlin  told  a  friend  of  mine  in  1913  :  "  All  that 
is  related  on  this  subject  in  *  King  Edward  in  his  True  Colours  '  is 
absolutely  accurate — every  word  of  it." 


348        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

speaking-tube  and  shouted  to  the  engineers, 
"  Slow,  slow.  Pay  no  attention  to  the  telegraph  !  " 
The  Kaiser's  anger  was  great  at  the  affront. 
"  Pilot  .  .  .  consider  yourself  under  arrest."  '''  I 
shall  not  leave  this  place,"  replied  the  pilot,  without 
turning  a  hair.  ;( I  am  in  command  of  the  ship, 
and  no  one — not  even  an  Emperor — shall  give  me 
orders."  The  end  of  the  story  is  inevitable. 
"  The  officers  present  looked  at  each  other  in 
silence,"  it  continues,  te  knowing  that  all  the 
rules  of  the  sea  were  on  the  pilot's  side  ;  but  they 
were  amazed  to  see  His  Majesty  leave  the  bridge 
and  allow  the  pilot  to  take  the  yacht  through  the 
straits  without  interference."  The  finale  reads 
like  any  fairy  story.  The  next  day  the  Kaiser's 
bad  humour  had  disappeared,  and  he  bestowed  a 
decoration  on  the  old  pilot,  and  appointed  him  his 
official  pilot  in  Norwegian  waters. 

King  Edward,  as  I  have  noted,  once  said : 
1  You  may  expect  politeness  from  Englishmen, 
but  not  manners,"  and  his  eldest  son  shares  that 
opinion,  for  the  Bishop  of  Worcester  relates  a 
conversation  which  he  had  with  King  George 
when  he  was  Duke  of  York.  As  the  Bishop  was 
about  to  address  some  boys  at  a  public  school, 
the  present  Sovereign  said  :  "  Why  do  you  not 
ask  that  at  public  schools  manners  should  be 
taught  ?  ?:  In  response  to  the  Bishop's  question 
as  to  why  he  should  specially  emphasise  manners, 
the  King  replied :  "  Because,  as  you  know,  I  mix 
among  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men,  and  it  has 
been  a  positive  distress  to  me  to  see  how  often, 


KING  EDWARD  IN  STORY  349 

when  abroad,  Englishmen  lose  in  the  race  with 
Frenchmen,  Italians,  and  Germans  because  of  their 
want  of  manner.  The  foreigners  know  when  to 
bow,  to  shake  hands,  to  converse,  to  stand  up  or 
sit  down  in  the  presence  of  their  superiors,  while 
the  Englishmen  are  wanting  in  these  manners. 
When  vacancies  have  to  be  filled  those  are  the 
points  which  very  often  tell,  and  that  is  where  the 
Englishman  does  not  shine."  This  was  plain, 
wholesome  speaking,  and  from  it  we  can  gather 
how  deeply  the  sentiments  of  the  father  have 
sunk  into  the  soul  of  the  son. 

King  Edward's  favourite  flower  was  the 
English  rose,  and  at  his  death  the  demand  for  it, 
and  for  all  white  flowers,  violets,  and  mauve  and 
purple  orchids,  was  unparalleled.  When  Queen 
Victoria  died  London  florists  estimated  that  floral 
tributes  valued  at  £50,000  were  sent  to  Osborne 
and  Windsor.  These  came  from  all  parts  of  the 
world,  from  every  reigning  Sovereign  in  Europe, 
the  Shah  of  Persia,  Indian  potentates,  the  Sultan 
of  Turkey,  President  McKinley,  and  the  widow  of 
President  Garfield.  Many  tons  of  flowers  were 
used  in  1901  and  in  May  1910.  Flowers  soon 
perish,  it  is  true,  but 

The  very  reason  why 

We  love  them  is  because  they  die. 

Two  months  after  the  marriage  of  the  then 
Prince  and  Princess  of  Wales,  Mr.  Gladstone 
wrote :  e  We  dined  at  Marlborough  House 
last  night.  The  charm  certainly  does  not  wear 


350        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

off  with  renewed  opportunity.  Clarendon,  who 
saw  her  (the  Princess)  for  the  first  time,  fully 
felt  it.  Do  you  know,  I  believe  they  are  actually 
disposed  to  dine  with  us  some  day."  l  A  month 
earlier  Mr.  Gladstone  wrote  from  Windsor  :  '  The 
charm  of  the  Princess,  so  visible  at  a  distance, 
increases  with  the  increase  of  nearness."  And  in 
October  of  the  same  year,  writing  from  Balmoral, 
the  statesman  noted  :  "  The  people  are,  one  and 
all,  very  easy  to  get  on  with.  Windsor,  I  suppose, 
stiffens  them  a  little." 

The  Bishop  of  Shelford,  welcoming  the 
Foresters  to  King's  Lynn,  related  that  King 
Edward,  when  Prince,  was  driving  along  a  country 
road  in  a  dog-cart,  attended  by  only  one  servant, 
when  an  old  woman,  carrying  a  huge  basket  of 
cockles,  stopped  the  dog-cart,  and  asked  His 
Royal  Highness,  of  whose  identity  she  was  ignorant, 
if  he  would  carry  the  cockles  to  Lynn.  The  Prince 
replied  that  he  would,  if  he  were  going  to  Lynn, 
but  he  was  travelling  in  another  direction,  and 
asked  the  old  woman  how  much  she  would  sell  the 
cockles  for.  '  Three  and  sixpence  or  four 
shillings."  "  I  will  give  you  a  picture  of  my 
mother,"  remarked  the  Prince.  !<  I  think  that 
will  help  you."  t(  I  don't  think  it  will  help  me 
to  sell  my  cockles,"  retorted  the  old  woman, 
doubtfully.  '  Well,  here's  the  picture  of  my 
mother,"  said  the  Prince,  taking  half  a  sovereign 
out  of  his  pocket  and  handing  it  to  the  old 
woman. 

1  May  10, 1863,  the  Royal  Wedding  Day.  (Lord  Morley's  "  Life.") 


KING  EDWARD  IN  STORY  351 

Two  of  the  most  celebrated  Paris  restaurants, 
the  Maison  Doree  and  the  Cafe  Anglais,  at  which 
King  Edward,  as  Prince,  used  to  be  frequently 
seen,  have  ceased  to  exist,  although  the  latter 
remained  open  until  1913,  and  His  Majesty  took 
Queen  Alexandra  to  dine  there  twice  when  they 
were  last  in  Paris.  Aurelien  Scholl,  talking  of  the 
glories  of  those  two  restaurants,  exclaimed  :  '  Of 
the  diners  there  in  the  old  days  only  one  remains — 
the  Prince  of  Wales  ;  but  he  has  turned  out  badly 
—he  has  become  King  !  "  A  tragic  fate  befell 
one  of  the  late  King's  great  friends,  the  Duke  of 
Hamilton.  After  a  very  gay  supper  at  the  Maison 
Doree,  the  Duke,  who  was  the  husband  of  Princess 
Mary  of  Baden,  fell  downstairs.  At  the  end  of 
three  days  he  recovered  consciousness  and  was  able 
to  walk  from  one  room  to  another ;  but  he  died 
without  having  spoken  a  word. 

In  1888  there  was  a  great  "  row  "  over  the 
refusal  of  the  Cork  band  to  perform  the  "  National 
Anthem."  Had  it  been  forgotten  that  Irish 
bands,  whose  members  wore  Her  Majesty's  uniform, 
often  forgot  to  include  the  air  on  their  programmes 
when  Lord  Aberdeen  was  first  !( L.-L."  ?  For 
my  part  I  always  rejoiced  at  its  omission,  for, 
rightly  or  wrongly,  it  had  been  degraded  to  a 
strictly  party  tune,  and  when  played  at  any  public 
assembly  in  almost  any  part  of  Ireland  was  sure  to 
evoke  a  most  unseemly  display  of  animosity. 
Such  an  expression  of  antagonism  to  Queen 
Victoria  was  an  unpleasant  reminder  to  the  most 
loyal  Irishmen  that  almost  throughout  her  reign  our 


352        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

august  ruler  treated  the  sister  country  to  a  steady 
course  of  studied  and  most  injudicious  neglect. 

Imagine  King  Edward  figuring  by  name  (as  he 
did  when  he  was  Prince)  in  a  novel !  In  a  story 
called  "  Miss  Bayle' s  Romance,"  written  nearly 
a  quarter  of  a  century  ago  by  a  well-known 
member  of  the  Reform  Club,  the  late  Mr.  W. 
Fraser  Rae,  the  Prince  was  introduced  with  some 
little  ingenuity,  and  credit  must  be  given  to  the 
author  for  the  skill  with  which  he  presented  the 
"H.R.H.  "  of  the  later  eighties.  To  fully  ap- 
preciate the  "  romance  "  we  must  read  between 
the  lines.  Miss  Bayle  is  an  American — beautiful, 
of  course,  as  all  our  delightful  cousins  are,  and 
ever  will  be,  in  print,  if  nowhere  else  ;  blessed  also 
with  countless  dollars  — and  that  is  equally  a  matter 
of  course.  Ultimately  she  marries  a  British  noble- 
man— another  little  way  they  have. 

Fancy  yourself,  then,  at  Monte  Carlo,  with 
Mrs.  and  Miss  Bayle,  Lord  Plowden  Eton  (O  shade 
of  Bernard  Burke  !),  Mr.  Wentworth,  and,  as  the 
purveyors  of  "  fashionable  "  news  say,  "  others." 

As  they  left  the  cafe,  Lord  Plowden  saw  a 
familiar  figure  stepping  out  of  a  carriage,  and  he 
remarked,  "  There's  the  Prince.  When  I  heard  he 
was  at  Cannes  I  thought  he  might  run  over  here." 

The  Prince,  who  knew  Lord  Plowden  well, 
having  proposed  him  at  the  Marlborough  Club, 
stopped  and  shook  hands  with  him.  He  shook 
hands  with  Mr.  Wentworth  also,  who  had  been 
introduced  to  him  at  Cowes  two  years  before,  and, 
being  blessed  with  a  truly  Royal  memory  for  the 
names  as  well  as  the  faces  of  those  he  had  seen,  he 


KING  EDWARD  IN  STORY  353 

did  not  hesitate  to  address  him  by  name  and  say, 
"  Mr.  Wentworth,  you  American  gentlemen  seem 
to  find  your  way  to  this  place.  I  hope  you  have 
not  lost  your  money." 

Mr.  Wentworth  replied,  "  I  do  not  care  about 
playing ;  indeed,  I  enjoy  the  place  well  enough 
without  doing  so." 

Whereupon  the  Prince  said  emphatically,  "  You 
are  a  wise  man  ;  I  wish  that  some  of  my  friends 
would  take  a  leaf  out  of  your  book."  Then  he 
wished  them  good-bye,  adding,  '"  I  hope  to  see 
you  again  later,  as  I  do  not  return  to  Cannes  till 
nearly  midnight." 

Lord  Plowden  recognised  the  Prince  of  Wales 
among  the  spectators  at  one  of  the  trente  et 
quarante  tables,  and  pointed  him  out  to  the  ladies 
(Mrs.  and  Miss  Bayle),  who  both  exclaimed,  "  How 
like  he  is  to  his  portraits  !  " — no  very  high-flown 
compliment.  As  the  Prince  turned  away  from  the 
table  he  saw  the  party,  and  beckoned  to  Lord 
Plowden,  who  accompanied  him  out  of  the  gaming 
rooms.  On  the  way  the  Prince  asked  who  the 
ladies  were,  adding  that  the  younger  one  was  very 
beautiful.  Lord  Plowden  replied  that  they  were 
two  Americans  from  Chicago ;  whereupon  he  said 
that  he  should  like  them  to  be  introduced  to  him, 
as  he  admired  American  ladies  very  much,  especi- 
ally handsome  ones. 

The  introduction  took  place  outside  the  Casino, 
and  Miss  Bayle  had  the  great  and  unexpected 
pleasure  of  conversing  with  the  Prince  of  Wales. 
She  knew,  from  reading  the  London  correspondence 
of  the  l!(  Chicago  Tribune,"  that  several  of  her 
countrywomen  had  been  admired  by  him  and 
that  he  had  been  specially  struck  with  the  charm 
of  Miss  Chamberlain,  of  Cleveland,  Ohio,  and  she 
had  envied  her  fair  countrywoman.  Now  that 
23 


354       MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

her  own  ambition  was  gratified  she  felt  highly 
elated,  and  the  vivacity  of  her  talk  was  a  reflex 
of  her  delight.  .  .  .  The  conversation  with  the 
Prince  did  not  last  many  minutes.  *  When  I  saw 
Chicago,"  he  said,  l<  I  thought  it  a  wonderful 
city ;  there  were  then  150,000  people  in  it,  but 
now  my  American  friends  tell  me  there  are  upwards 
of  half  a  million."  "  That's  so,  Prince,  and  it  is 
calculated  our  city  is  bound  to  be  the  biggest  on 
our  continent,  if  not  in  the  world."  "  Have  you 
seen  London  yet  ?  "  he  asked.  "  No,  Prince ; 
but  mother  and  I  expect  to  be  there  inside  of  four 
weeks."  "  I  hope  you  will  like  England ;  most 
Americans  do,  because  it  is  so  like  their  own 
country  in  some  things,  while  differing  from  it  in 
others.  I  thought  America  very  like  the  best 
parts  of  England,  and  I  should  like  to  go  there 
again."  Miss  Bayle  was  delighted  to  hear  this, 
and  warmly  replied  :  "  Prince,  I'm  sure  you  would 
have  a  grand  reception  if  you  came  again.  Our 
people  beat  all  creation  in  the  splendour  of  their 
receptions  and  funerals."  !<  But,  Miss  Bayle,  I 
have  no  desire  to  be  buried  in  America,  on  however 
grand  a  scale."  :f  Oh,  Prince,"  interrupted  Miss 
Bayle ;  "  I  did  not  mean  that.  .  .  .  But,  Prince, 
why  doesn't  the  Queen  visit  America  ?  I  am  sure 
she  would  have  a  glorious  time.  I  never  read  a 
more  interesting  book  than  her  '  Journal  of  Our 
Life  in  the  Highlands,'  and  mother,  who  seldom 
reads  a  book  through,  read  every  word  of  it,  and 
said  that  she  knew  the  Queen  must  be  popular 
because  she  was  just  like  any  other  real  good 
mother."  Mrs.  Bayle  interposed  with  "  That's 
so,  Prince  ;  and  I  hope  you'll  tell  the  Queen  that 
Western  ladies  admire  her  book.  I  guess  you 
may  tell  her,  too,  that  it  sold  like  hot  cakes." 
Before  the  Prince  left  the  party  he  remarked 


KING  EDWARD  IN  STORY  355 

to  Lord  Plowden  Eton,  "  I  have  promised  your 
father  to  visit  Druid's  Mount  and  bring  my 
eldest  son  with  me  after  Parliament  rises  and 
before  I  go  to  Homburg.  If  your  friends  from 
America  should  be  there  I  shall  be  glad  to  meet 
them."  Neither  Mrs.  Bayle,  her  daughter,  nor 
Mr.  Wentworth  paid  any  heed  to  the  Prince's 
last  words.  They  had  no  notion  of  their  signific- 
ance. Lord  Plowden  Eton  knew  perfectly  well 
what  they  implied,  and  he  knew  also  that  they 
imposed  a  rather  difficult  task  upon  him.  He 
would  have  to  report  them  to  his  parents,  who 
would  consider  it  their  duty  to  invite  Mrs.  Bayle, 
Miss  Bayle,  and  Mr.  Wentworth  to  their  country 
seat  in  the  West  of  England  during  a  part  of  the 
time  that  the  Prince  of  Wales  was  their  guest. 

Between  King  Edward  and  Lord  Wolseley 
there  were  always  the  best  relations.  After  his 
return  from  Ashanti  in  March  1874,  "  our  only 
General  "  was  always  "  one  of  Queen  Victoria's 
men,"  and  her  eldest  son  held  him  in  the  highest 
esteem.  Of  the  scores  of  anecdotes  which  went 
through  the  press  when  Lord  Wolseley  died  one 
is  worth  re-telling  in  an  abbreviated  form.  The 
late  Sir  William  Howard  ("  Billy  ")  Russell  wrote 
in  the  "  Daily  Telegraph,"  in  1879,  some  severe 
criticisms  on  the  conduct  of  our  troops  in  South 
Africa.  Wolseley  resented  them.  The  quarrel 
was  still  in  the  public  mind  in  1882,  said  an  anec- 
dotist  in  the  "  Manchester  Guardian,"  when  the 
Prince  of  Wales,  seeing  Russell  and  Wolseley 
chatting  at  the  Royal  Academy  dinner,  remarked  : 
'  What !  you  two !  You  are  friends,  I  see." 
Wolseley  approached  the  Prince  with  the  observa- 


356       MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

tion  :    "I  beg  your  pardon,  sir.     I  didn't  quite 
understand  what  you  said."     !<  Oh,  nothing,"  was 
the  reply,  "only  I  was  glad  to  see  that  you  were 
friends."      Wolseley,  rejoining  Russell,  said  :    "  I 
wonder  what  he  means ? "    "I'm  sure  I  don't  know," 
said  Russell.     The  writer  whom  I  have   quoted 
asserted  that  "  Lord  Wolseley  had  never  been  a 
favourite  at  Court ;   indeed,  relations  between  him 
and  King  Edward  were  very  strained."     I  doubt  it. 
The  badge  of  the  Grand  Master  of  the  Order 
of  St.  Patrick  (the  Lord-Lieutenant)  is  the  gem  of 
the  collection  of  those  Crown  jewels  which  were 
found  to  have  disappeared  in  1907,1  shortly  before 
King  Edward  and  Queen  Alexandra  visited  Ire- 
land.    The   jewels,    which    were    sent   to    Dublin 
Castle  by  William  iv.,  contain  numerous  Brazilian 
diamonds,  which  are  far  more  valuable  than  the 
stones  obtained  from  other  countries.     A  noted 
connoisseur   said   to   me   recently :      '  When    you 
have  any  Brazilian  diamonds  which  you  want  to 
dispose  of,  bring  them  to  me,  and  I  will  give  you 
anything  you  like  to  ask  for  them."    He  added 
consolingly:    "They    are    to    be    had."      Besides 
being  the  donor  of  the  famous  Crown  jewels,  of 
which  we  again   heard   something   in  July  1913, 
King  William  is  credited  with  leaving  behind  him 
several  unmistakable  indications  of  his  affection 
for  the  Green  Isle.     The  story  is  told  of  a  gentleman 
who,  after  being  sworn  to  give  true  evidence  in 
an  Irish  court,  was  asked  his  name.     He  answered 
with  evident  pride  :    "  Cornwallis  Fitzclarence." 

1  See  the  chapter  "-  The  Iron  Fist." 


KING  EDWARD  IN  STORY  357 

Some  little  time  after  I  had  laid  before  the 
public  suggestions  for  appointing  the  Prince  of 
Wales  as  the  Queen's  representative  in  Ireland 
(1889)  the  "  Star  "  published  these  two  items  : 

The  "  Freeman's  Journal  "  hears  from  what 
ought  to  be  a  reliable  source  that  the  Government 
strongly  urged  the  Prince  of  Wales  to  allow  them 
to  appoint  Prince  Albert  Victor  to  the  Viceroyalty, 
and  this  not  only  since  the  announcement  of  Lord 
Londonderry's  resignation,  but  more  than  once 
during  the  past  year. 

Following  the  above  came  these  piquant  lines  : 

THE  IRISH  VICEROYALTY. 

They  are  talking  of  sending  a  Prince  to  entice 

Erin's  sons  into  hybridous  loyalty. 
Well,  the  Castle  have  ever  had  plenty  of  vice, 

Now  they're  thinking  of  adding  the  Royalty. 

T.  W.  MCDONALD. 

The  unwonted  appearance  of  the  Queens 
driving  together  through  the  streets  on  Alexandra 
Day  1913  evoked  these  anagrams  : 

A  ve  Alexandra ! 

L  ong  life  and  happiness  be  thine, 

E  dward  the  Great  King's  Consort, 

X  celling  as  Wife,  Mother,  Queen. 

A  ve  Alexandra, 

N  ever-to-be-forgotten  by  the  People, 

D  evoted  to  thee  now  as  ever, 

R  evering  thee,  O  Danish-English  Rose, 

A  lexandra,  Queen  of  our  Hearts. 

"  M  ay  Blossom ! "     Sweet  as  you  can  wish  to  see. 
A  thund'rous  welcome  greets  our  glorious  Queen : 
R  efulgent  Mother  of  our  King  to  be — 
Y  our  Edward,  bearer  of  his  Grandsire's  name. 


358        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

King  Edward  had  a  strongly-marked  democratic 
strain  in  his  composition,  and  in  King  George 
this  characteristic  is  even  more  prominent,  although 
few  people  seem  to  be  aware  of  it.  :t  I  should  not 
be  at  all  surprised  to  see  their  Majesties  in  the 
Tuppenny  Tube,"  said  a  well-known  man  the 
other  day ;  and  the  fair  Countess  (not  Lady 
Warwick)  to  whom  he  was  talking  laughingly 
exclaimed  :  "  That  just  hits  them  off.  I  think 
their  democratic  spirit  is  for  the  good  of  the 
country.  You  remember  what  Vernon  Harcourt 
said  in  the  House  of  Commons  years  ago — '  We 
are  all  Socialists  now.'  '  The  Monarchy  was 
saved  by  Queen  Victoria,  it  was  immensely 
strengthened  by  Edward  the  Great,  and  it  is 
being  popularised  by  King  George  and  his  de- 
lightfully-domesticated Consort,  who  is  the  joy  of 
His  Majesty's  life,  as  she  has  ever  been.  "  The 
King  is  pleased  with  his  Queen,  Jupiter  with  his 
Juno."  1 

King  George  has  in  his  father  a  glorious 
exemplar.  He  has  begun  exceedingly  well,  and 
gives  abundant  promise  of  being  a  replica  of  Great 
Edward.  May  he  be  so  !  For  then  his  biographer 
will  be  justified  in  saying  of  him,  as  we  may  now 
say  of  his  father,  in  words  written  three  hundred 
years  ago  : 

A  sweeter  and  a  lovelier  gentleman, 
Framed  in  the  prodigality  of  nature, 
The  spacious  world  cannot  again  afford. 

1  Sua  regina  regi  placet,  Juno  Jovi. — PLAUTUS. 


Photo] 


[  Daily  Mirroi . 


THE  Two  QUEENS. 
Queen  Mary  and  Queen  Alexandra  on  "Alexandra  Day,"   1913. 


, 


CHAPTER   XIV 


AROUND    KING   EDWARD'S   FAMILY 


I  THANK  you  from  the  depth  of  a  grateful  heart 
for  the  very  kind  address  presented  to  me  by  the 
City  of  London. 

I  appreciate  every  word  in  it,  and  cannot  ex- 
press how  deeply  touched  I  am  by  the  kind  thoughts 
of  me  on  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  my  arrival  in 
England  in  the  country  where  I  found  my  second 
and  beloved  home. 

I  shall  never  forget  the  welcome  you  gave  me 
then  nor  the  invariable  kindness  and  affection  shown 
me  by  high  and  low  ever  since,  which  I  pray  to  God 
I  may  never  forfeit. 

You  may  be  assured  that  I  have  always  taken 
the  greatest  share  and  interest  in  the  welfare  and 
prosperity  of  our  beloved  country. 

The  fifty  years  spent  here  among  you  have 
brought  me  the  greatest  happiness,  but,  alas,  also 
the  heaviest  of  sorrows  in  the  death  of  my  beloved 
husband  and  the  loss  of  my  precious  eldest  son, 
sorrows  which  the  nation  shared  with  me  and  by 
their  sympathy  helped  me  to  bear. 

It  is  a  happiness  to  me  to  feel  that  by  this 
address  you  are  also  showing  your  loyalty  and 
affection  to  my  dear  son,  on  whom  I  pray  every 
blessing  may  ever  and  always  rest. 

ALEXANDRA.1 


The  Queen's  reply  to  the  City  of  London's  address  on  the 
fiftieth  anniversary  of  her  arrival  in  England  (March  7,  1863). 


350 


360       MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

MARLBOROUGH  HOUSE,  March  20,  1913. 

QUEEN  ALEXANDRA  is  deeply  touched  by  the  in- 
numerable expressions  of  sympathy  that  have  been 
shown  to  her  in  the  fresh  sorrow  that  has  befallen 
her  in  the  death  of  her  beloved  brother,  the  King 
of  the  Hellenes. 

Every  effort  has  been  made  to  answer  the 
telegrams,  and  to  acknowledge  the  letters  convey- 
ing the  feelings  of  the  writers,  but  it  has  been 
impossible  to  thank,  as  Her  Majesty  would  wish  to 
do,  those  who  have  shown  their  sympathy  in  many 
other  various  ways. 

Queen  Alexandra,  therefore,  asks  all  those  who, 
by  writing  their  names  at  Marlborough  House  or 
by  other  means  have  conveyed  their  sympathy  with 
her,  to  accept  this  expression  of  her  heartfelt  thanks 
for  the  kind  feeling  towards  her  which  they  have 
shown  at  a  time  when  it  was  very  deeply  appreci- 
ated.1 

THE  fiftieth  anniversary  of  Queen  Alexandra's 
arrival  in  England  was  marked  by  a  passage  in 
the  King's  Speech,  by  appropriate  references  to 
the  event  in  both  Houses  of  Parliament,  con- 
gratulations by  all  classes,  and  the  presentation 
at  Marlborough  House  of  an  address  by  the  City  of 
London.  The  Jubilee  was  not  otherwise  cele- 
brated. The  Golden  Wedding  Day  (March  10) 
was  unobserved.  On  the  18th  the  Queen  learnt 
that  in  the  afternoon  a  Socialist  assassin  had 
taken  the  life  of  her  brother,  the  King  of  the 
Hellenes,  at  Salonika.  The  second  celebration 
of  "  Alexandra  Day  "  was  made  historically  memor- 
able by  the  two  Queens  driving  together  through 
the  streets — for  the  first  time. 

1  Her  Majesty's  Message  to  the  Empire. 


AROUND  KING  EDWARD'S  FAMILY     361 

"  She  must  be  a  Princess  and  a  Protestant," 
said  Lord  Palmerston  when  it  was  deemed  ad- 
visable to  seek  a  bride  for  the  Prince  of  Wales. 
Europe  contained  only  seven  ladies  who  were 
regarded  as  fulfilling  these  requirements  —  six 
Princesses  and  the  Duchess  Wilhelmina  of  Wurtem- 
berg.  The  Prince  was  not  troubled  by  this  em- 
barras  du  choix.  He  had  seen  the  daughter  of 
Prince  and  Princess  Christian  of  Gliicksburg  and 
was  content.  She  was  the  ne  plus  ultra.  The 
Princess  confessed  that  in  the  Prince  she  had 
found  her  affinity.  The  parents  of  both  (and 
Palmerston)  were  satisfied  that  the  union  was  a 
suitable  one,  and  on  the  7th  March  1863  the  future 
Queen  Alexandra  was  greeted  by  London — three 
days  before  the  wedding  at  Windsor.  Tennyson's 
Ode  was  in  all  the  papers  and  on  everybody's  lips  ; 
the  Laureate's  verses  thrilled  the  nation,  and 
concentrated  people's  minds  upon  the  newcomer 
as  nothing  else  could  have  done.  It  was,  then, 
Tennyson's  inspired  pen  which  greatly  tended  to 
make  the  Princess  a  popular  heroine ;  yet  when 
he  died  our  Princes  were  conspicuous  by  their 
absence  from  the  funeral !  The  photographs  of 
the  day  apparently  did  the  Princess  (then  in  her 
nineteenth  year)  scant  justice.  Be  this  as  it  may, 
it  was  not  until  later  years  that  she  was  admitted 
by  the  critical  to  be  endowed  with  many  of  the 
attributes  of  that  "  St.  Cecilia  "  of  Raphael  which 
had  won  the  admiration  of  the  world. 

With  tears  of  joy  in  her  eyes,  Queen  Victoria 
took  the  bride  to  her  heart.  The  Princesses  gave 


362        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

their  new  sister  all  their  affection  from  the  first. 
To  Princess  Alice  she  was  "  our  good,  sweet  Alix." 

Painters  and  sculptors  found  it  difficult  to 
catch  her  true  expression.  "  It  changes  so  often," 
one  eminent  artist  told  the  Prince,  "  that  I  fear 
I  shall  have  to  give  up  all  hope  of  getting  a  good 
likeness."  "  What  is  the  matter  ?  "  asked  the 
Princess ;  and  upon  hearing  the  cause  of  the 
"  trouble  "  she  said,  in  comically-assumed  penitence, 
"  Well,  now  I  will  try  to  be  good  !  "  But,  after 
all,  the  artist  was  obliged  to  have  recourse  to 
a  photograph.  A  sculptor,  working  on  a  bust, 
and  the  Prince  himself,  made  some  show  of  remon- 
strating with  the  fair  sitter,  who  reproached  them 
with  being  "  wicked  and  cruel  "  ;  then  pretended 
to  be  moved  to  tears — a  feint  which  restored 
harmony  all  round.  The  fondest  of  mothers  was 
happiest  when  her  boys  and  girls  were  round  her. 
Some  modern  matrons — those  who  "  cannot  be 
bothered  with  these  things"  —  will  read  with 
surprise  that  when  King  George  and  his  brother 
and  sisters  were  quite  little  "  tots  "  their  mother 
personally  saw  that  they  got  their  evening  bath 
regularly.  It  was  her  domesticity  which  evoked 
that  national  sympathy  as  general  now  as  then, 
only  awaiting  opportunity  to  manifest  itself. 

Those  whose  memory  enables  them  to  peer 
into  the  "  misty  past  "  recall  her  in  all  the  phases  of 
her  multi-coloured  life.  In  the  Park  people  had 
eyes  only  for  "  the  Princess  "  and  her  daughters 
in  a  victoria.  Often  the  young  ladies  were  alone 
in  their  little  carriage,  horsed  by  their  cherished 


AROUND  KING  EDWARD'S  FAMILY    363 

ponies.  One  afternoon  there  was  commotion  in 
St.  James's  Street ;  the  ponies  had  been  frightened 
in  the  Mall  when  returning  from  the  Park  to 
Marlborough  House  and  had  bolted.  There  was  a 
"  spill  "  opposite  the  "  Thatched  House,"  and  a 
rescue  of  the  children  mainly  by  Lord  Alfred 
Paget's  friend  "  Jack "  Murphy,  who  conducted 
them  into  one  of  the  clubs,  whence  they  were 
escorted,  neither  hurt  nor  frightened,  to  Marl- 
borough  House,  which  had  long  before  become,  to 
paraphrase  the  author  of  "  Westward  Ho  !  "  "  the 
very  omphalos,  cynosure,  and  soul  "  around  which 
society  organised  itself. 

When  she  was  in  London,  which  was  often, 
the  first  question  of  everybody  was :  "  Did  you 
see  the  Princess  ?  "  She  was  always  visible — 
at  the  Royal  Academy,  the  opera,  the  theatre, 
the  private  view,  the  flower  show,  Hurlingham, 
Epsom,  Goodwood,  Ascot,  Sandown,  everywhere. 
And  when  the  Prince  was  presiding  at  public 
gatherings  there  also  was  frequently  his  consort, 
the  people's  uncrowned  Queen  for  thirty -seven 
years.  Everybody  saluted  her,  and  she  smilingly 
returned  the  bows  of  everybody.  "She  is  just 
like  one  of  ourselves,"  the  humble  said  :  what 
finer  tribute  could  have  been  paid  her  ?  When 
the  Throne  was  the  subject  of  lampoons  no 
satirist's  shaft  was  ever  aimed  at  her.  She  was 
immune  from  attack,  and  I  doubt  if  any  but 
words  of  admiration  were  ever  uttered  about  her. 
She  could  not  prevent  the  "  professional  beauty  " 
craze  from  spreading,  but  it  soon  became  known 


364       MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

that,  as  far  as  her  gentle  nature  allowed  her  to 
take  exception  to  any  public  whim  of  the  hour,  she 
regarded  it  with  disfavour  and  good-humouredly 
ridiculed  it.  The  old  noblesse  execrated  it. 

Possessed  of  abundant  esprit  herself,  she  appre- 
ciates that  quality  in  others.  "  Stories  "  of  the 
Princess  before  and  after  the  Reign  may  not  yet  be 
told  in  print,  or  some  highly-amusing  ones  might 
find  a  place  here.  Although  not  a  tete-forte  like 
the  Empress  Frederick,  and  so  not  finding  particu- 
lar fascination  in  the  works  of  Renan,  Strauss, 
Hegel,  Mommsen,  and  Nietzsche,  she  has  always 
delighted  in  solidly-written  books,  to  the  ex- 
clusion of  merely  ephemeral  literature,  while  I 
think  I  am  right  in  saying  that  she  has  contrived 
to  keep  herself  au  courant  of  the  home  and  foreign 
events  of  the  day  by  means  of  the  newspapers. 
As  regards  general  reading  she  may  say,  as  her 
bookish  consort  said  once  at  Cannes,  "  I  like  best 
good  descriptions." 

Of  music  she  is  still,  they  tell  me,  as  much  of  a 
passionnee  as  ever.  Her  sympathy  with  all  chari- 
table works — notably  the  hospitals — is  too  familiar 
to  need  more  than  passing  reference.  How  deeply 
she  is  moved  by  disasters  we  have  recently  seen 
by  her  consoling  messages  to  the  mother  and  the 
widow  of  Captain  Scott — not  stereotyped  "  re- 
grets," but  comforting  words,  eloquent  in  their 
simple  directness  and  sincerity ;  outpourings,  as 
Corneille  puts  it  in  "  China,"  of  a  "soul  guided 
by  virtue."  The  religious  bent  of  her  mind  is 
one  of  her  most  marked  attributes. 


AROUND  KING  EDWARD'S  FAMILY     365 

Everybody  will  agree  with  Lady  Violet  Greville 
that,  "  when  other  ladies  of  less  royal  rank  have 
shown  indications  of  masculine  proclivities,  Queen 
Alexandra  has  always  preferred  the  less  demon- 
strative qualities,  has  discouraged  the  hooligan 
tendencies  of  society  girls,  and  forbidden  her 
Maids  of  Honour  to  romp  or  smoke  cigarettes." 
It  may  well  be  that  "  the  increasing  popularity 
of  the  camera  is  due  to  the  Queen's  example," 
inasmuch  as  she  has  successfully  practised  the 
art  for  the  last  five-and-twenty  years.  Strolling 
through  the  galleries  of  the  Vatican,  Lady  Greville 
"  espied  a  lady,  escorted  by  another  lady  and 
gentleman,  who  attracted  my  attention  by  her 
beauty  and  her  likeness  to  Queen  Alexandra, 
then  Princess  of  Wales.  No  one  recognised  the 
lady  in  the  plain  black  coat  and  skirt  and  small 
black  hat  among  the  crowd  of  tourists,  but  as 
she  passed  quietly  away  from  our  view,  so  calm, 
so  quiet,  and  so  beautiful,  the  impression  remained 
with  me  for  ever."  Just  then  "  Mrs.  and  Miss 
Howard  "  were  "  doing  "  Rome. 

One  of  Queen  Alexandra's  treasures  is  a  medal 
on  which  is  engraved  a  profile  of  King  Edward, 
given  to  her  on  her  birthday,  December  1,  1910, 
by  Mrs.  A.  Sassoon  and  Mrs.  Leopold  de  Roths- 
child ;  the  work  of  a  Russian  artist.  "  The 
likeness  is  perfect,"  she  said  to  the  donors.  The 
same  may  be  said  of  a  portrait  of  herself — a 
miniature — which,  on  dit,  never  leaves  her. 

When  I  would  write  about  her  I  feel  that  "  I 
am  at  Dulcarnon,"  at  my  wits'  end  for  words. 


366        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

Many  Queens  and  Empresses  require  to  be 
imagined  with  crown  on  head  and  sceptre  in  hand 
in  order  to  explain  their  prestige  and  to  make 
us  submit  to  their  domination.  Queen  Alexandra 
is  not  in  this  category.  It  is  said  by  some  of  the 
most  observant  of  her  friends  that  "  she  gives 
the  impression  of  that  admiring  surprise  produced 
by  a  woman  surrounded  by  a  distinctive  halo." 
This  predominant  "  note  "  is,  we  may  conclude, 
instinctive,  for  we  know  from  more  than  one 
philosopher  that  "  character  "  such  as  that  which 
I  have  endeavoured  to  indicate  is  the  most  direct 
manifestation,  although  not  the  exact  reflection, 
of  instinct. 

Disillusionment  is  the  common  fate  of 
Sovereigns  and  peoples,  and  it  came  to  Queen 
Alexandra  a  few  months  after  her  marriage.  The 
question  of  "  the  Duchies  "  arose  ;  Denmark  was 
to  lose  Schleswig  and  Holstein  and  Austria  and 
Prussia  were  to  gain  them.  The  young  Princess 
was  mortified  at  the  cold-blooded  attitude  of  the 
English  Press.  She  may  well  have  thought, 
remembering  the  enthusiasm  with  which  she  had 
been  greeted  by  the  nation,  that,  for  her  sake, 
the  papers  would  have  given  their  moral  support 
to  Denmark  as  against  the  powerful  allies.  Had 
the  Poet  Laureate's  outburst  : 


Saxon  and  Norman  and  Dane  are  we, 

But  each  all  Dane  in  our  welcome  of  thee/' 


any    real    meaning  ?     Poor    Princess !      She    h 
no  knowledge  as  yet  of  the  jugglery  of  politics 


AROUND  KING  EDWARD'S  FAMILY     367 

and  diplomacy  and  the  trammels  of  non-interven- 
tion in  matters  which  do  not  concern  us.  "  Les 
affaires  sont  les  affaires,"  and  our  business  was 
to  keep  out  of  the  Austrian  -  Prussian  -  Danish 
imbroglio  and  let  the  weakest  go  to  the  wall. 
She  was  soon  to  learn  the  meaning  of  "  policy," 
but  the  lesson  brought  her  no  consolation.  One 
day  at  Windsor  she  opened  her  heart  to  her 
Royal  mother-in-law,  and  begged  her  to  intervene. 
"  No  !  '"  said  the  Queen  coldly  ;  "  I  will  never 
make  war  against  Germany.  It  was  my  mother's 
and  my  husband's  country,  and  Victoria  is  Crown 
Princess  of  Prussia.  Besides,  the  Duchies  are 
German,  and  they  are  necessary  to  secure  the 
unity  of  Germany."  The  repast  finished  sadly 
for  the  Princess.  She  appealed  to  the  Prince, 
who  was  sympathetic,  but  powerless.  The  allies 
had  the  tacit  consent  of  England  to  proceed  with 
the  annexation,  and  it  was  "all  up  "  with  little 
Denmark.  Vae  victis  ! 

The  succession  to  the  Throne  of  Denmark 
was  a  burning  question  at  one  time.  King 
Frederick  vn.  was  childless — so  was  his  heir. 
Princess  Louise  of  Hesse  Cassel  (Queen  Alexandra's 
mother)  was  one  of  the  legal  heirs  of  Frederick  vn., 
and  on  her  marriage  she  transferred  her  rights  to 
her  husband.  In  1852  the  Great  Powers  signed 
a  treaty  securing  the  succession  to  Prince  Christian 
of  Gliicksburg,  and  thus  it  was  that,  on  the  death 
of  Frederick  vn.,  on  November  15,  1863  (eight 
months  after  Princess  Alexandra's  marriage  to 
the  Prince  of  Wales),  Prince  Christian  became 


368        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

King  Christian.  The  treaty,  which  was  negotiated 
by  that  genial  diplomatist  Lord  Malmesbury,  was 
of  a  very  complicated  character,  and  probably 
Lord  Palmerston  was  justified  in  saying  of  this 
document,  "  Only  three  people  understand  it- 
God,  myself,  and  a  German  professor  who  died 
quite  mad  "  ! 

"  The  more  one  looks  at  Raphael's  '  St.  Cecilia,' 
the  more  one  admires  it."  What  De  Brosses  said 
of  that  glorious  canvas  we  may  say  with  full 
hearts  of  the  bereaved  Queen  whose  nature  was 
depicted  in  a  glowing  sentence  by  her  sister-in-law, 
the  Empress  Frederick  :  "I  have  known  many 
women  who  please  all  men,  but  never  one  who, 
like  Alexandra,  has  gained  the  good  word  of  her 
own  sex  without  either  arousing  or  exciting 
jealousy."  One  of  Her  Majesty's  friends  of  long 
standing,  referring  to  the  myriad  portraits  of  the 
Royal  Lady,  said  to  me,  not  very  long  ago : 
"  The  Queen,  as  you  surely  know,  is  a  fair  woman, 
but  this  portrait  which  you  show  me  makes  her 
a  brunette !  It  is  not  the  Queen  at  all.  Her 
Majesty's  hair  is  brown,  with  here  and  there  a 
very  light  golden  strand  or  two,  but  without  the 
faintest  approach  to  red." 

Those  who  remember  Queen  Alexandra  at  the 
time  of  her  marriage  aver  that  she  was  a  pro- 
nounced blonde.  Since  then  her  hair  has  deepened 
in  tone  after  passing  through  the  shades  which 
separate  the  warm  tint  from  the  "  ripe- wheat  " 
colour  of  a  rich  brown.  The  forehead  is  square 
and  high,  its  loftiness  cleverly  corrected  by  a 


AROUND  KING  EDWARD'S  FAMILY    369 

seldom-changing  coiffure  which  harmonises  per- 
fectly with  the  bust.  The  large  deep  blue  eyes 
give  an  expression  of  indescribable  sweetness ; 
the  mouth  is  arched ;  the  lips  are  the  reverse  of 
thin ;  the  chin  is  slightly  prominent.  Some  one 
has  described  the  face  as  "  serious  on  the  right 
side  and  smiling  on  the  left "  ;  as  a  whole,  it  is 
frank,  agreeable,  sympathetic,  and  very  mobile. 

Queen  Alexandra's  voice  is  full  and  round, 
and  highly  sympathetic ;  and  its  attraction  is,  if 
anything,  heightened  by  the  slight  foreign  accent 
which  she  has  never  completely  lost.  The  accent 
is  markedly  German,  but  German  minus  anything 
verging  upon  harshness.  Those  who  have  had 
opportunities  of  conversing  with  Queen  Alexandra 
recall  the  animated  manner  in  which  she  talks 
upon  all  subjects,  even  the  most  unimportant. 
They  say  that  when  she  is  listening  to  others  she 
fixes  her  gaze  upon  them,  with  an  almost  imper- 
ceptible movement  of  the  head,  which  increases 
when  she  in  turn  speaks,  as  if  to  emphasise  her 
words ;  that  she  gesticulates  freely  when  talking, 
looks  upon  the  bright  side  of  things,  and  gives 
the  idea  of  one  who  is  listening  for  something 
amusing  to  fall  from  the  lips  of  those  who  speak 
to  her.  A  note  of  cheerfulness,  of  gaiety,  has 
always  been  one  of  her  most  prominent  and 
attractive  features,  and  all  who  are  so  fortunate 
as  to  approach  her  are  infected  with  this  unfailing 
brightness  of  disposition. 

When  the  full  story  of  her  career  comes  to  be 

written,  much  of  it  will  be  comparable  to  a  fairy 

24 


370        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

tale ;  yet  how  full  of  tragedy  !  In  the  autumn 
of  her  days  she  can  look  back  upon  a  home-life 
that  was  indeed  most  beautiful — in  many  respects 
ideal.  So  strong  was  her  maternal  instinct  that 
she  wished  personally  to  rear  her  first  infants, 
and  was  only  reasoned  out  of  her  natural  womanly 
desire  by  her  consort.  The  children  were  never  out 
of  her  thoughts.  She  superintended  their  upbringing 
with  ceaseless  vigilance,  spending  with  them  every 
moment  of  the  scant  time  which  she  could  call  her 
own.  At  Sandringham  a  lift  took  the  sleeping 
babe  from  the  nursery  to  its  mother's  room  without 
awaking  it.  As  the  children  grew  up  a  complete 
scheme  of  education  was  devised  by  their  parents. 
The  Princess  was  a  great  admirer  of  Ruskin,  and 
assiduously  studied,  and  adopted,  the  philc 
sopher's  reasoning  concerning  the  formatioi 
of  the  characters  of  the  young.  She  noted  par- 
ticularly what  Ruskin  says  as  to  the  difference 
there  should  be  between  the  bringing-up  of  boys 
and  girls  :  the  former  (he  maintains)  "  can  be 
moulded  to  any  shape  which  seems  desirable, 
just  as  a  rock  is  chiselled  or  a  piece  of  bronze  is 
hammered  into  form,  but  girls  cannot  be  so 
fashioned.  They  grow  like  flowers,  and  will  fade 
if  you  deprive  them  of  the  sun  ;  like  the  narcissus, 
they  will  wither  on  the  stalk  unless  they  are  given 
air,  and  droop  if  they  are  left  without  support 
at  a  certain  time  of  life  ;  they  cannot  be  enslaved, 
but  will  take  the  paths  which  are  most  agreeable 
to  them." 

The  Princess  was  very  strict  with  the  boys, 


AROUND  KING  EDWARD'S  FAMILY     371 

and  very  indulgent  with  the  girls.  From  the 
outset  she  recognised  the  necessity  of  developing 
their  bodies  by  outdoor  exercise ;  this  they  got 
in  abundance,  without  any  restrictions ;  as  to 
clothes,  they  wore  "  anything."  Their  food  was 
of  the  simplest ;  on  this  point  the  Princess  was 
rigorous,  and  she  was  equally  strict  in  insisting 
upon  their  complete  submission  to  her  will.  She 
was  averse  to  corporal  punishment.  It  has  been 
told  of  her,  however,  that  once,  at  Sandringham, 
seeing  a  boy  ill-treating  a  cat,  she  went  up  to  the 
young  culprit  and  gave  him  a  little  wholesome 
correction.  Princess  Maud,  asked  as  to  the  truth 
of  this  story,  is  asserted  to  have  replied  :  "  I  do 
not  believe  my  mother  acted  as  she  is  said  to  have 
done,  for  she  has  a  horror  of  personal  chastisement ; 
but  she  is  quite  capable  of  having  done  so,  for  she 
has  even  a  greater  detestation  of  cruelty." 

Of  Queen  Alexandra's  innumerable  acts  of 
charity  the  world  has  heard  something,  but  only 
when  her  good  deeds  have  been  on  the  grand  scale. 
None  but  her  personal  friends — those  who  have 
enjoyed  her  close  friendship  for  very  many  years — 
can  have  an  idea  of  the  extent  and  the  miscellaneous 
character  of  her  open-handedness  from  the  moment 
she  came  among  us.  An  accidental  meeting  with 
a  poor  old  woman  who  has  been  deprived  of  her 
son  leads  to  the  gift  of  a  donkey,  a  cart,  and 
harness.  At  Marlborough  House,  one  Christmas- 
tide,  she  sees  a  child  waiting  to  be  told  by  the  young 
ladies  how  some  dolls  which  they  have  ordered 
are  to  be  dressed.  The  Princess  of  Wales  gathers 


372        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

that  the  girl  and  her  aged  grandmother  are  de- 
pendent for  their  livelihood  on  what  they  can  earn 
by  making  dolls'  dresses  ;  it  is  all  hand-work,  for 
they  cannot  afford  the  luxury  of  a  machine.  The 
next  day,  to  the  amazement  of  the  dwellers  in  the 
mean  street,  a  Royal  carriage  drives  up  to  the 
seamstress's  humble  abode,  fairy  forms  alight, 
with  all  kinds  of  "  nice  things  "  for  the  old  woman 
and  her  grandchild  ;  and  on  Christmas  Eve  some- 
thing quite  wonderful  happens,  for  a  grand  sewing- 
machine  arrives,  and  with  it  is  a  card  on  which  is 
written  (oh,  the  joy  of  it !) :  "  To  good  little 
Emily  Brown. — From  ALEXANDRA." 

And  who  has  not  heard  of  "  the  little  blue 
cart "  at  Sandringham  which  took  the  Royal 
lady,  first  as  Princess,  then  as  Queen,  on  her  daily 
errands  of  mercy  ?  We  used  to  hear  of  her 
rubbing  the  aching  limbs  of  rheumatic  old  women  ; 
helping  to  put  snowy-white  linen  on  the  bed  of 
other  aged  sufferers ;  and  taking  to  another 
indigent  invalid  the  appetising  food  and  drink 
which  were  to  make  her  well.  To  a  village  girl 
who  is  about  to  be  married  "  the  Princess  "  gives 
a  purse  full  of  glittering  gold  pieces  wherewith  to 
"  make  the  home  "  ;  for  a  labourer's  wife  who  is 
"  expecting  "  there  is  a  complete  outfit  for  baby. 
Newly-born  infants — children  of  the  very  humble- 
are  taken  in  her  arms  and  soothed.  Are  they  ill, 
it  is  the  angel-Princess  who  provides  for  their 
needs. 

Queen     Maud's     eldest     sister,    the     widowed 
Princess  Royal,  made  a  welcome  reappearance  in 


AROUND  KING  EDWARD'S  FAMILY     373 

society  in  the  season  of  1913,  when  she  attended 
a  ball  given  by  Lord  and  Lady  Salisbury,  accom- 
panied by  her  daughter,  the  Duchess  of  Fife, 
whose  engagement  to  Prince  Arthur  of  Connaught 
had  been  just  announced.  That  Princess  Victoria's 
health  had  greatly  improved  was  patent  to  all 
who  saw  her,  well  mounted,  at  Aldershot,  during 
the  visit  of  the  King  and  Queen  in  the  summer. 

King  Edward's  affection  for  his  wife's  sister 
Dagmar  was  only  exceeded  by  his  intense  admira- 
tion of  her  intellectual  gifts.     From  the  first  he 
recognised  in  her  one  of  the  silent  forces  of  Europe. 
Even  Bismarck  admitted  her  power,  and  handled 
her   very  delicately  and   persuasively.     The   con- 
trast between  now  and  then,  between  what  is  and 
what  was,  is  always  more  or  less  sharp,  and  oft- 
times   it   is   painful   even   to   bitterness.     Let   us 
glance  for  a  fleeting  moment  at  the  life  of  the 
Empress  Marie  Feodorovna  a  quarter  of  a  century 
ago.     Every    season    (which    means    the    period 
between  December  and   Lent)  there  were  Court 
balls  at  one  or  other  of  the  Imperial  residences, 
oftenest  at  the  Winter  Palace,  where  I  first  saw 
her.     Some   years   there    were   eight,    or   ten,    or 
maybe   a   dozen   of   these   dances,    in   which   the 
Tsaritsa  of  those  days  and  the  Dowager  Empress 
of  these  participated  with  girlish  glee.     Her  con- 
sort, Alexander  in.,  did  not  find  much  amusement 
at  these  gatherings,  and  after  the  first  quadrille 
would  retire  to  his  study  and  apply  himself  to  the 
work  of  the  State.     The  opera  and  the  theatres 
were  much  affected  by  the  Imperial  couple,  who, 


374        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

in  accordance  with  the  etiquette  of  the  Imperial 
Court,  were  seldom  seen  at  private  houses.  Even 
at  the  Embassies  and  Legations  they  were  un- 
familiar figures. 

The  Empress  Marie  has  always  had  a  predilec- 
tion for  charitable  works,  and  these  occupied  her 
attention,  not  by  fits  and  starts,  but  regularly 
every  day.  It  was  not  only  the  various  educa- 
tional and  other  institutions  of  St.  Petersburg 
that  she  supported,  but  kindred  establishments 
all  over  the  country.  A  special  functionary  made 
a  daily  report  upon  the  state  of  these  charities, 
while  other  officials  frequently  informed  her  per- 
sonally how  matters  were  progressing.  Nearly 
all  Russians  are  charitably  disposed,  and  the; 
idolised  her  for  her  constant  well-doing.  Nevei 
was  there  a  more  beloved  and  popular  Tsarits* 
than  Queen  Alexandra's  sister  Dagmar.  Th< 
daughters  of  "  fashionable "  folk  were  educated 
then,  as  now,  at  St.  Catherine's  and  at  the  Cloister 
Smolna,  two  scholastic  establishments  enjoying 
the  friendly  patronage  of  the  Empress  Marie. 
Her  Majesty  was  well  posted  in  the  talk  of  the 
salons,  which  was  conveyed  to  her  by  numerous 
ladies  whom  she  made  her  personal  friends ; 
while  the  good-natured  Tsar  withheld  no  State 
secrets  from  her.  She  was  credited  with  advising 
him  on  all  important  questions.  In  the  fullest 
sense  of  the  word  she  was  the  Tsar's  confidante. 

Like  the  Empress  Frederick  when  Crown  Prin- 
cess of  Germany,  the  Empress  Marie  was  a  graceful 
rider,  and  was  often  seen,  in  uniform,  at  military 


Photo}  [Ferslew,  Copenhagen. 

THREE  ROYAL  SISTERS. 

Queen  Alexandra  (centre),  the  Dowager  Empress  of  Russia  (left),  and 
the  Duchess  of  Cumberland  at  the  Castle  of  Bernstoff  (1913). 


AROUND  KING  EDWARD'S  FAMILY    875 

reviews.  She  was  to  be  met  also  at  the  Imperial 
chasses,  which  were  as  brilliantly  picturesque  as 
those  at  Compiegne  and  Fontainebleau  in  the 
sixties.  Skating  was  another  of  her  favourite 
pastimes.  When  the  tragedy  of  March  13, 
1881,1  paralysed  St.  Petersburg  and  horrified  the 
world  she  was  the  one  being  on  earth  who  brought 
consolation  to  Alexander  in.,  who  found  himself 
Emperor  with  that  dread  suddenness  which  pre- 
ceded the  accession  of  Dom  Manuel  on  the  1st  of 
February  1908,  and  of  the  Kings  of  Denmark 
and  Greece  in  1913. 

A  charming  domestic  picture — "  The  Sisters." 
The  scene  is  a  railway  station.  As  the  train 
comes  to  a  standstill  an  elegante,  draped  in  black, 
appears  at  the  window  of  the  saloon,  smiling  a 
greeting  to  another  radiant  vision,  also  in  sombre 
garb,  relieved  only  by  the  light  purple  trimmings  of 
the  jacket.  In  the  saloon  the  Sisters  are  folded 
in  each  other's  arms,  then  pass  through  the  little 
crowd  of  attendants  to  the  carriage  which  bears 
them  away  to  the  Palace.  Half  an  hour  after- 
wards sorely  disappointed  faces  were  to  be  seen 
on  the  platform ;  those  of  two  foreign  Ministers 
among  them.  A  Royal  train  is,  in  a  general  way 
of  speaking,  "  on  time,"  but  the  one  bringing  the 
Imperial  Lady  was  that  day  so  much  in  advance 
of  scheduled  time  that  the  little  scene  of  meeting 
was  enacted  in  the  absence  of  the  diplomatists. 

When  they  are  together  among  us  the  history 
of  the  beautiful  Sisters  is  all  our  talk.  We  recall 

1  The  assassination  of  Alexander  n. 


376       MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

(some  of  us)  that  distant  time  when  we  first  saw 
the  elder  of  the  twain.  Let  us  not  speak  of  dates, 
but  rather  hide  them  under  the  convenient  euphem- 
ism "  yester-year."  The  sister  from  Russland,  whom 
we  saw  once  more  in  1913,  is  the  "  sosie "  of 
the  other,  save  and  except  that  she  is  (let  it  be 
whispered)  the  least  youthful-looking  of  the  two. 
Their  trials  and  troubles  have  been  manifold. 
They  have  seen  some  of  their  best-beloved  pass 
into  the  Valley  of  the  Shadow.  Both  mourn 
Crowned  Husbands  and  Crowned  Brothers.  The 
Empress  Marie  has  witnessed  her  adopted  home- 
land well-nigh  rent  in  twain  by  the  dread  forces  of 
anarchy  and  revolution — has  seen  that  throne 
which  was  once  her  consort's,  and  is  now  her  son's, 
reel  and  totter,  until  to  the  onlooker  it  bade  fair 
to  crumble  into  nothingness.  "  The  Tsardom  is 
doomed !  "  wrote  Dr.  Dillon.  But  the  years 
have  changed  all  that,  and  Russia,  purified  by 
disaster,  is  heartened  and  herself  again. 

London  looks  with  pleased  eyes  at  the  Sisters, 
side  by  side,  in  the  Park,  and  perchance  at  the 
hospital,  and  accords  them  loyal  and  respectful 
greeting.  It  is  good  to  see  that  they  can  move 
about  the  town  as  freely  as  if  they  were  in  their 
old  home-country — at  rural  Fredensborg  or  Bern- 
storff.  No  escort  of  helmeted  Guards  is  required, 
nor  posse  of  constables.  What  we  read  of  extra- 
ordinary police  precautions  for  the  protection  of 
the  Imperial  and  Royal  ladies  we  may  well  smile 
at,  as  they  themselves  do.  Marie  Feodorovna 
may  feel,  and,  I  doubt  not,  does  feel,  as  much  at 


AROUND  KING  EDWARD'S  FAMILY     377 

home  here  as  her  golden-hearted  sister,  who,  like 
the  fairy  Princess,  never  grows  any  older,  never 
looks  less  charming  than  when  she  first  set  foot 
in  this  our  London  in — yester-year  ! 

We  are  in  a  plain  beyond  the  banlieues  of  the 
capital.  The  atmosphere  which  a  May  morning 
brings  with  it  seems  to  arouse  Nature  from  slumber, 
to  make  the  leaves  leap  from  the  branches  and 
cloak  them  with  verdure.  But  you  must  not 
look  for  trees  out  here  in  the  vast  plain ;  for, 
despite  the  entry  of  spring,  it  is  a  rather  sombre 
landscape.  On  the  platform  of  the  "  military  " 
station  at  Bourget  a  number  of  grave-looking 
men  "  line  up "  alongside  the  train  of  many 
carriages,  black  and  dusty.  At  a  given  signal  two 
monster  bouquets  are  handed  into  the  central 
compartment  of  a  carriage  amidst  complete  silence. 
Two  elderly  men  appear,  both  grisonnants  ;  one, 
strongly-built,  ruddy-visaged,  smiling — the  other 
more  sedate,  and  short-sighted.  A  lady  accom- 
panies them,  in  a  black  travelling  costume — no 
bonnet,  hat,  or  toque.  A  thin  gold  chain  depends 
from  her  neck,  but  this  is  the  only  gleam  of  colour. 
And  the  lady  on  the  platform  beyond  the  banlieues 
of  Paris  ?  She  is  the  Empress  Miarie  Feodorovna. 
And  the  two  black-garbed  men  ?  President 
Fallieres  and  M.  Pichon  of  the  French  "  F.O." 
They  address  a  few  words  to  the  lady,  hats  in  hand. 
The  train  is  about  to  move.  "  But  wait  a  moment 
—a  little  moment  only.  .  .  .  Monsieur  le  Presi- 
dent, Monsieur  le  Ministre,  do  you  mind  if  I  photo- 
graph you  ?  Thank  you  ;  you  are  most  kind." 


378        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

And  the  Empress  "  snaps  "  the  President  of  the 
Republic  and  the  Minister,  "  for  my  collection." 

When,  in  May  1912,  Queen  Alexandra  was 
deprived  in  one  brief  week  of  her  eldest  brother 
and  her  nephew  (a  son  of  her  sister  Thyra,  Duchess 
of  Cumberland),  she  fortunately  had  by  her  side 
her  other  sister,  Dagmar ;  and  together  they  left 
for  Copenhagen,  the  town  of  mourning.  For  the 
last  seven  years  we  in  England  have  seen  much 
of  the  widowed  consort  of  Alexander  in.  Seven 
years  before  the  crime  of  1881,  the  Russian  Court 
saw  the  future  Queen  of  England  alongside  the 
future  Empress  of  Russia,  assisting  at  the  cere- 
monies which  marked  the  wedding  of  their  brother- 
in-law  and  the  only  daughter  of  Alexander  n. 
The  Duke  of  Connaught,  Lord  Knollys,  Mr.  J.  M. 
Le  Sage,  Mr.  Sydney  Hall,  and  the  writer  of  these 
lines  are  among  the  few  surviving  eye-witnesses 
of  those  functions,  bewildering  in  their  splendour. 

Not  longer  ago  than  the  autumn  of  1906— 
Queen  Alexandra  and  Princess  Victoria  being 
in  Denmark  at  the  time — the  most  fantastic 
stories  appeared  in  the  papers.  The  Empress 
Marie,  it  was  asserted,  was  "  a  self-made  prisoner 
on  board  her  yacht,"  the  Polar  Star,  then  moored 
at  Copenhagen.  She  was  "  afraid  to  land,"  for 
Nihilists  were  about !  In  reality,  she  was  suffer- 
ing from  a  sharp  attack  of  lumbago,  which  pre- 
vented her  from  leaving  the  yacht  for  several  days. 
Queen  Alexandra  spent  several  hours  a  day  with 
her  sister,  and  both  were  amused  at  reading  in 
the  papers  that  the  Tsar  was  also  "  a  prisoner," 


AROUND  KING  EDWARD'S  FAMILY     379 

not  on  his  yacht,  but  in  his  palace  at  Peterhof,  and 
was  intending  to  abdicate,  and  to  reside  among 
us  in  "  a  baronial  mansion  in  the  Midlands,"  which 
had  been  secured  for  him  ! 

Queen  Alexandra's  Empress-sister  has  a  strong 
affection  for  England  and  its  people,  and  it  was 
regrettable  that  she  could  not  be  with  us  on 
"  Alexandra  Day  "  1912,  or  on  the  Jubilee  wedding 
day,  March  10,  1913.  She  was  credited  with 
having  arranged  the  meeting  of  her  son  and  King 
Edward  at  Reval  in  1908  ;  and  it  is  quite  likely 
she  had  a  hand  in  it. 

On  June  25,  1912,  Queen  Alexandra  tele- 
graphed to  Colonel  Lodge,  commanding  the  3rd 
Battalion  of  Alexandra  Princess  of  Wales's  Own 
(Yorkshire)  Regiment,  on  the  occasion  of  the 
presentation  of  colours  by  Mrs.  Orde-Powlett  at 
Richmond,  Yorkshire  : 

It  is  with  sincere  pleasure  that  I  send  you  a  message  on  the 
occasion  of  the  presentation  of  new  colours  to  the  3rd  Battalion 
of  my  regiment.  This  event  must  always  prove  an  interesting 
record  in  the  history  of  the  regiment,  and  I  am  confident  that  all 
ranks  of  the  battalion  under  your  command  will  regard  as  precious 
trusts  these  emblems  which  to-day  are  committed  to  your  care, 
and  that  they  will  uphold  the  prestige  and  honour  of  the  regiment. 

In  August  1875  I  saw  the  Princess  of  Wales 
in  person  present  the  regiment  with  new  colours 
at  Sheffield,  whither  the  Royal  pair  had  gone  to 
open  the  park  which  Mr.  Mark  Firth  (then  Mayor) 
gave  to  the  cutlery  capital.  When  the  regiment 
served  in  the  campaign  in  the  Netherlands,  in 
1795,  it  was  under  the  command  of  the  Duke  of 


380        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

York.  "  It  honourably  shared,"  said  the  Prin- 
cess, addressing  Colonel  Deane,  "  in  the  victories 
of  the  British  arms  in  the  Crimea,  and  it  partici- 
pated in  the  difficulties  and  successes  which 
attended  the  suppression  of  the  Indian  mutiny." 
The  scene  of  the  presentation  was  "  The  Farm," 
the  Duke  of  Norfolk's  place  at  Sheffield. 

It  was  the  first  visit  of  the  Prince  and  Princess 
of  Wales  to  Sheffield — at  all  events,  jointly.  The 
park  is  situated  at  some  little  distance  from  the 
town,  and  the  kindly  and  public-spirited  "  authori- 
ties "  had  very  considerately  left  the  "  gentlemen 
of  the  Press  "  out  of  the  bill,  imagining,  I  sup- 
pose, that  they  could,  and  would,  tramp  through 
the  mud  and  the  crowded  streets  to  the  scene 
of  the  "  opening."  To  the  amazement  of  the 
"  authorities,"  the  reporters  declined  to  do  any- 
thing of  the  kind.  Sir  John  Brown  smoothed 
matters  over,  and  I  recollect  seeing  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  Press  in  carriages,  looking  quite 
as  respectable  as  the  Sheffield  plutocrats  them- 
selves. 

In  1893  the  officers  of  the  regiment  now  styled 
as  above  began  the  publication  of  a  monthly 
magazine,  entitled  "  Ours  :  The  Green  Howards' 
Gazette."  I  greatly  wondered  at  the  time  who 
was  responsible  for  the  Chevalieresque  verses, 
"  Artful  Lizzie  'Arris  "  : 

D'you  know  Lizzie  'Arris — 'er  as  lodges  in  our  court? 

"Well/'   I  says,  says  I  to  'er,  I  says,  says  I, 
"'Ow  is  it,  Lizzie  'Arris,  as  yer  wears  yer  'air  cut  short?" 

I  says,  says  I  to  'er,  I  says,  says  I. 


AROUND  KING  EDWARD'S  FAMILY    381 

"  I  lost  it  in  a  fever,  dear/'  says  she  to  me,  says  she. 

"  Dear  me/'  says  I,  consolin'  like,  I  says,  says  I ;  "  dear  me  ? 
Some  gals  thinks  it  becomin  ;  but  what  fools  such  gals  must 
be!" 

I  says,  says  I  to  'er,  I  says,  says  I. 

She's  a  darlin',  she's  a  hangel,  she's  a  strawberry,  is  Liz ; 

But  she's  artful,  blessed  artful,  oh,  she's  artful,  that  she  is  ! 
She  got  round  'Arry  'Opkins  in  'er  under' anded  way ; 

And  'e  drove  'er  down  to  Kosher ville  to  spend  a  nappy 
day! 

What  amusement  the  verses  must  have  caused 
the  august  lady  who  was,  and  is,  the  titular 
head  of  the  gallant  "  Green  Howards  "  !  They 
are  worthy  of  poor  E.  J.  Milliken  at  his  best. 

After  the  death  of  the  Duke  of  Clarence  at  the 
end  of  January  1892,  Queen  Alexandra  did  not 
return  to  public  life  until  the  first  week  of  June 
1893.  On  the  3rd  of  that  month  she  was  present 
at  the  trooping  of  the  colour,  and  three  days  later 
she  witnessed  the  laying  of  the  foundation  stone 
of  the  new  wing  of  the  Royal  United  Service 
Institution  by  her  consort,  and  the  opening  of  a 
bazaar  in  the  Banqueting  Hall,  through  the 
middle  window  of  which  Charles  i.  passed  to 
execution. 

Queen  Alexandra's  sister-in-law,  Queen  Louise, 
widow  of  King  Frederick,  is  one  of  the  tallest 
and  one  of  the  richest  of  European  royalties. 
Only  child  of  the  late  King  Charles  of  Norway 
and  Sweden,  and  granddaughter  of  Bernadotte, 
Napoleon's  famous  Marshal,  she  inherited  from 
her  parents  a  fortune  of  £3,000,000,  now  estim- 


382        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

ated  at  £5,000,000.  Deeply  religious,  and  a  strict 
Lutheran,  Her  Majesty  is  a  patron  of  art,  litera- 
ture, and  music. 


In  the  autumn  of  1912,  Borngraber  (Berlin) 
issued  Gustav  Freytag's  Letters  to  his  Wife, 
although  the  author  left  final  and  formal  instruc- 
tions that  she  was  not  to  publish  them.1  Several 
of  the  letters  contain  details  of  events  in  the 
history  of  the  Emperor  and  Empress  Frederick, 
their  son  (the  present  Emperor),  and  Queen 
Victoria ;  and  from  these  curious  epistles  the 
following  extracts  have  been  translated  for  this 
work. 

June  12,  1888.  [In  a  letter  of  this  date  Freytag 
narrates  a  conversation  with  the  Duke  (Ernest) 
of  Coburg,  brother  of  Queen  Victoria's  consort.] 
The  talk  was  exclusively  of  politics  and  the  gossip 
of  Berlin.  I  was  better  informed  than  the  Duke, 
as  Herr  von  Stosch  had  supplied  me  with  con- 
siderable matter,  but  little  that  would  be  new 
to  you.  The  Duke  is  greatly  hurt  by  the  conduct 
of  his  niece  (Empress  Frederick),  and  looks  on 
things  exactly  as  we  do.  He  drew  from  his 
pocket  a  letter  from  the  Crown  Prince  (William  n.) 
containing  details  of  the  Battenberg  marriage 

1  She  is  said  to  have  received  £1800  for  the  copyright.  The 
first  of  Freytag's  novels  which  appeared  in  English  was  "  Soil  und 
Haben"  ("  Debit  and  Credit  ").  It  was  published  in  the  late  fifties 
by  Mr.  John  Maxwell,  husband  of  Miss  Braddon,  and  came  out  in 
the  periodical  called  "The  Welcome  Guest." 


AROUND  KING  EDWARD'S  FAMILY     383 

negotiations.  The  Emperor  Frederick  had  asked 
the  Grand  Duke  of  Baden  to  inform  Bismarck 
with  regard  to  the  marriage  project  that  he  (the 
Emperor)  was  agreeable  to  it.  Bismarck  replied 
that  he  would  rather  resign  the  Chancellorship 
than  consent  to  it.  Bismarck  then  had  a  talk 
about  it  with  the  Emperor  in  the  presence  of  the 
Crown  Prince  and  the  Grand  Duke  of  Baden. 
The  Emperor  (who  could  not  speak)  wrote  on  a 
slip  of  paper  that  he  intended  to  give  the  order 
for  the  solemnisation  of  the  marriage  of  his 
daughter  and  Prince  Alexander  of  Battenberg. 
Bismarck  said  it  would  be  impossible,  and  explained 
the  whole  political  position,  pointing  out  that 
such  an  alliance  would  be  certain  to  bring  about 
a  war  with  Russia.  Bismarck's  reasons  are  so 
convincing  that  the  Emperor  is  convinced,  and 
declares  that  in  these  circumstances  he  relinquishes 
the  whole  plan.  Everybody  present  feels  relieved. 
The  Empress  now  enters  the  room,  and  turns 
towards  her  husband  with  the  words :  "  You 
have  given  your  word  of  honour  that  Alexander 
of  Battenberg  shall  be  my  son-in-law !  ''  The 
Emperor  groans,  strikes  the  table  with  both  fists 
in  anguish,  and  is  unable  to  speak.  Finally  he 
rises,  takes  the  Empress  by  the  hand,  leads  her 
to  the  door  and  closes  it  behind  her.  All  this  is  in 
the  presence  of  the  above-mentioned.  Then  he 
sinks  back,  and  the  next  day  is  unable  to  leave 
his  bed. 

Writing    on    June    20,    1888,    Freytag    says : 
The  visit  of  the  Queen  of  England  has  had  an 


384        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

effect  not  intended  by  the  Empress  Frederick. 
After  several  long  conversations  with  Bismarck 
Queen  Victoria  quite  sided  with  him  and  the 
Crown  Prince  William  (on  the  question  of  the 
proposed  Battenberg  marriage).  The  Chancellor 
managed  to  bring  the  Queen  over  entirely  to  his 
way  of  thinking  (against  the  alliance).  He  said 
to  her,  on  this  point  :  "  Your  Majesty  shall  be 
the  judge."  He  explained  the  matter  to  her : 
she  agreed  with  him,  and  left  Berlin  in  a  spirit 
of  antagonism  to  her  daughter.  Thus  (writes 
Freytag)  good  relations  with  the  ruling  person 
in  England  may  be  expected,  and,  as  Austria  is 
obliged  by  circumstances  to  remain  true  to  the 
Triple  Alliance,  we  may  look  forward,  for  the 
present,  to  international  peace. 

Among  the  gems  of  German  Imperial  Family 
history  Freytag  narrates  this  in  a  letter  dated 
June  20,  1888.  Meeting  Duke  Ernest  of  Coburg, 
the  Emperor  William  11.  told  him  that,  after  the 
funeral  of  his  father  (the  Emperor  Frederick),  the 
Grand  Duke  of  Weimar  came  to  him  and  said, 
in  a  friendly  manner  :  "  If  you  want  advice  at  any 
time  you  have  only  to  come  to  me  and  I  will 
give  it."  Freytag  says  this  caused  a  smile,  as 
the  Grand  Duke  was  the  biggest  fool  of  all  the 
German  Princes  ! 

The  Duke  of  Coburg  told  Freytag  that  he  had 
the  following  direct  from  William  n.  The  young 
Emperor,  in  his  excitement,  said  one  day  to 
Bismarck  :  "  There  your  Highness  has  done  some- 
thing stupid  (dummheit)."  Bismarck  replied : 


AROUND  KING  EDWARD'S  FAMILY     385 

"  May  Heaven  preserve  your  Majesty  from  ever 
perpetrating  a  greater  piece  of  stupidity  than 
that  !  " 

After  the  death  of  the  Emperor  Frederick  all 
the  Princes  went  to  Berlin  to  do  homage  to  the 
new  Kaiser,  excepting  the  Prince  of  Reuss,  who 
never  recognised  any  German  Emperor. 

June  24,  1888. — In  this  letter  Freytag  dwells 
on  the  German  press  campaign  against  Sir  Morell 
Mackenzie  ;  enclosing  his  wife  newspaper  cuttings 
dealing  with  the  subject.  The  attacks  (says 
Freytag)  come  from  all  sides,  but,  alas  !  they  strike 
at  the  person  who  stands  behind  Mackenzie — 
the  Empress.  It  is  evident  that  she  would  gladly 
go  away  ;  but  she  is  afraid  to  retire  from  the 
field,  as  it  is  always  better  to  be  in  touch  with 
the  Imperial  Family  than  to  be  away.  She  is 
now  being  bitterly  punished  for  her  blind  pre- 
ference for  everything  English.  She  had  for- 
forgotten  that  she  is  a  German  Princess.  She 
told  the  Duke  of  Coburg  bitterly  that  she  was 
indifferent  to  everything  in  Germany,  and  he 
finished  the  conversation  with  the  words  :  "I 
know  that  I  have  also  become  indifferent  to  you  ; 
but  if  you  ever  want  a  true  friend  I  will  show 
you  that  I  am  one."  Thus  uncle  and  niece 
parted.  He  is  still  more  attached  to  her  than 
she  to  him. 

June  28,  1888. — The  Emperor  William's  con- 
tinual  affirmation   of   his   religious   sentiments   is 
unnecessary.     It  may  be  that  an  excellent  frame 
of  mind  and  the  tragic  events  which  caused  it 
25 


386        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

are  at  the  bottom  of  it.  His  father  possessed  a 
pretty  old  Franconian  Church  faith,  yet  his 
feelings  were  romantically  disposed,  and  under 
the  influence  of  a  devout  wife  he  might  have 
become  an  entirely  religious  visionary.  This 
"  softness "  (writes  Freytag)  caused  the  infidel 
Victoria  (die  unglaubige  Victoria)  to  lose  all 
patience  with  Frederick,  and  to  treat  him  badly.1 

July  2,  1888. — I  have  received  numerous  con- 
gratulatory telegrams  on  the  fiftieth  anniversary 
of  my  taking  the  Degree  of  Doctor.  From  a 
despatch  sent  me  by  the  widowed  Empress 
Frederick,  at  Friedrichskron,  it  would  appear 
that  she  intends  leaving  Germany,  but  is  first 
coming  to  Wiesbaden.  Her  original  plan,  to  go 
abroad  at  once,  seems  to  have  been  met  with 
serious  objections.  In  the  first  place  she  would 
be  subject  to  attacks  of  illness  and  unable  to  return 
(for  treatment).  Secondly,  she  would  be  obliged 
to  take  with  her  three  unmarried  daughters, 
which  would  not  be  very  desirable,  as,  like  all 
the  children  of  German  Sovereigns,  they  belong  to 
Germany,  and  must  look  out  for  husbands  in 
their  own  country.  The  Empress  is  subjected  to 
another  humiliation :  the  German  doctors  are 
preparing  a  public  exposure  of  her  favourite, 
Morell  Mackenzie. 

July  10,  1888. — Among  many  letters  is  one 
from  Baroness  Stockmar  (widow  of  the  famous 

1  Freytag  has  strangely,  even  malignantly,  misapprehended 
the  character  of  King  Edward's  sister,  who  was  a  God-fearing 
woman  and  a  true  Christian. 


AROUND  KING  EDWARD'S  FAMILY     387 

Stockmar,  the  friend  of  Queen  Victoria's  consort), 
containing  a  message  from  the  widowed  Empress 
Frederick  asking  me  to  jot  down  my  reminiscences 
of  the  dear  dead  Emperor,  my  personal  relations 
with  him,  and  what  I  thought  of  him,  and  send 
them  to  her. 

July  22,  1888. — The  newspapers  report  how 
roughly  the  Queen  of  England  treated  the  Am- 
bassador-Extraordinary (Winderfeldt)  who,  ac- 
cording to  usage,  had  been  sent  by  the  Emperor 
William  n.  to  announce  his  accession  to  the  throne 
[on  the  death  of  his  father].  The  announcement 
is  a  solemn  act  of  political  courtesy  which  is  paid 
to  the  Heads  of  States.  What  has  that  got  to  do 
with  the  displeasure  of  the  grandmother  [Queen 
Victoria]  ?  The  consequence  will  be  general  in- 
dignation at  Berlin ;  and  I  believe  the  English 
are  now  as  much  in  need  of  our  goodwill  as  we  are 
of  theirs.  Winderfeldt  made  a  great  mistake. 
He  ought  to  have  replied  to  the  demand  that  he 
should  appear  [at  the  English  Court]  in  private 
clothes  that,  as  a  Prussian  General,  he  was  obliged 
to  appear  in  uniform.  Such  contemptible  trifles 
still  play  a  part  in  the  fate  of  States  and  nations, 
and  sometimes  are  the  cause  of  most  fateful 
decisions.  It  is  also  possible  that  Queen  Victoria 
was  indignant  because  her  grandson  had  sent  her 
an  officer  who  was  only  a  Major- General,  whereas 
she,  as  the  greatest  lady  in  the  world,  should  have 
demanded  that  some  Prince  should  have  been 
sent — the  more  so  as  the  uniform  of  an  officer 
is  not  considered  high-class  dress  in  England. 


388        MORE  ABOUT  KING  EDWARD 

This    small    incident    shows    how    [easily]    family 
sentiments  are  ruffled. 

Among  the  letters  are  some  addressed  to 
Freytag  by  other  than  Royal  personages.  One  is 
from  Herr  von  Normann,  who  at  one  time  be- 
longed to  the  Empress  Frederick's  household. 
In  the  eighties  he  was  her  private  secretary  and 
counsellor ;  he  had  been  also  her  Hofmarschall. 
He  refers  to  the  great  piety  of  the  Empress, 
which  he  fears  will  have  an  influence  upon  the 
Emperor  William  n.,  as  he  is  not  unbiassed  enough 
to  follow  the  example  of  Frederick  the  Great, 
to  whose  level  he  endeavours  otherwise  to  raise 
himself ;  he  would  take  that  Frederick  as  his 
prototype.  The  Emperor  William's  whole  develop- 
ment is  more  a  result  of  a  negative  reaction  from 
his  mother  than  due  to  the  positive  principles  of 
his  tutor.  One  can  see  [says  Normann]  that  almost 
all  his  views  and  convictions  are  decided  by  his 
opposition  to  his  mother.  He  has  gradually  come 
to  think  and  do,  and  consider  right,  everything 
in  exact  opposition  to  his  mother.  The  danger 
which  lies  in  this  course  is  evident.1 


In    this    attempt    to    depict    some    of    "  King 
Edward's  Dearest  "  it  will  be  seen  that  I  have 

1  Professor  Leinhaas,  the  Empress  Frederick's  confidential 
friend  and  (unpaid)  librarian,  has  traversed  many  of  Freytag's 
statements.  Freytag  died  several  years  ago.  His  book  caused 
much  sensation  in  Germany. 


AROUND  KING  EDWARD'S  FAMILY     389 

restricted  myself  mainly  to  outlining  the  charac- 
teristics of  some  of  the  Royal  ladies,  adding  thereto 
a  few  memoranda  relating  to  Queen  Alexandra's 
sister,  the  Dowager  Empress  Marie  Feodorovna  of 
Russia.  In  a  future  volume,  I  shall  presume  to 
offer  some  observations  on  other  members  of  the 
Royal  Families  of  England  and  Denmark  who  are 
unmentioned  in  the  present  work,  and  notably 
Queen  Victoria  and  her  three  surviving  daughters, 
King  George  v.,  and  Queen  Mary. 

If  anything  could  console  Queen  Alexandra 
for  the  loss  of  King  Edward  it  would  be  the 
Empire's  admission  that  in  the  crowned  Son  we 
have  as  nearly  as  is  humanly  possible  a  replica  of 
the  Father.  The  beautifully  harmonious  relations 
of  the  Sovereign  and  his  Mother  need  no  empha- 
sising. The  stream  of  her  life  flows  placidly  on, 
ruffled  only  by  some  unintelligent  appraisement 
of  the  glorious  record  of  Edward  vn.  After  this 
earthly  pilgrimage  is  run  the  People,  in  whose 
hearts  she  is  enshrined,  will  lovingly  echo  the 
little  prayer  which  she  wrote  on  the  cross  of  lilies 
and  orchids  laid  on  the  coffin *  at  Edensor  : 

When  the  day  of  trial  is  o'er, 
When  the  race  of  life  is  run. 
Father,  grant  Thy  blessed  one 

Rest  and  peace  for  evermore. 

1  The  Duke  of  Devonshire's. 


26 


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